When Ryan Routh spoke to Semafor on March 7, 2023, he was frustrated with the Ukrainian government, which he had traveled around the world to support.

The Ukrainians, he complained, were too strict in allowing in foreign soldiers with questionable qualifications, including a group of Afghan commandos who faced skepticism and bureaucratic roadblocks in Kiev.

“Ukraine is often difficult to work with. Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or have to move from unit to unit to find a place where they are respected and valued,” he told Semafor. He was “sworn at” every time he suggested bringing in Afghan commandos. “They are afraid that everyone is a Russian spy,” he said in frustration.

Now a man widely believed to be Routh (58) is in custody for what the FBI described as an attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

When Semafor spoke to him, Routh was one of the American volunteers in Ukraine, the self-appointed director of a group he had founded, the International Volunteer Center. He was, even by the standards of that frenetic moment, a bit over the top, a Ukrainian involved in the effort told us at the time. But he was also, they said, authentically involved in the effort to bring in foreign troops, and we quoted him in a story about the Afghan fighters.

On X, he feverishly tweeted to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with his ideas — for example, “to use Independence Park to create a tent camp for all the foreigners here to support, to bring thousands of foreign citizens to come and support Ukraine.” Zelenskyy did not appear to respond.

Routh appears at 2:50 in this Semafor video: