Poppy Bilderbeck
An American soldier has taken to Twitter to claim that he helped take out seven of the Kremlin's armoured vehicles and 'countless' Russians.
Around a month before President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the border into Ukraine on 24 February, around 8,500 US troops were put on alert amid growing tensions.
American soldier James Vasquez has since used his Twitter account to give followers updates surrounding the ongoing conflict and give an insight into his role and what he has been doing since having landed in Ukraine.
In a clip posted yesterday, 24 March, Vasquez claims to have taken out 'seven tanks and countless Russians thus liberating' the people of Ukraine.
Alongside footage of him and another soldier appearing to stand in front of one of Russia's armoured vehicles, Vasquez captioned the post: "This village has been Russian occupied for a month, they terrorised the people and took their food. Today we entered, took out 7 tanks and countless Russians thus liberating these people."
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In the video, he states: "I don't know if you guys know what this is behind me, but that's a Russian tank which we've taken out."
The cameraman shouts: "Welcome to America."
However, a user who claims to be a tactical OSINT analyst has urged Vasquez to 'stay safe out there and stay low'.
He stated: "[I] Was monitoring pro-Russian groups on Telegram and saw footage of you on there. They wrote « Americans in Kiev » therefore your presence hasn’t gone unnoticed.
"God bless America and Ukraine."
Another commended Vasquez's efforts in helping Ukraine but asked him to 'do it quietly please'. "Let's not shout 'America' and give Putin's propaganda machine an opportunity to use this to claim NATO is already involved, OK?," they wrote.
While NATO declared it wouldn't send troops into Ukraine to avoid 'fully fledged war in Europe,' it vowed to strengthen its land, sea and air forces across Eastern Europe.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also appealed to 'friends' of Ukraine to come and help defend the country, which has led to soldiers from the West flying in to support the country against Russia.
Alongside his post yesterday, Vasquez has used his Twitter to give followers an insight into what he is eating while in Ukraine - such as 'eggs and potato dumplings every day' - as well as giving reports as to how many Russian soldiers he and his team have allegedly captured, and reflecting on his experiences training Ukrainian forces.
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information