Nate Vance

Nate Vance
Born	1978 (age 47)
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Military veteran, former volunteer combatant
Known for	Service in the Russo-Ukrainian War, public criticism of U.S. policy on Ukraine
Family	J.D. Vance (first cousin)
Military career
Allegiance	United States Ukraine
Service / branch	United States Marine Corps (1995–1999) Ukrainian Armed Forces (2022–2025)
Unit	Da Vinci Wolves (Ukraine)
Battles / wars	Russo-Ukrainian War Battle of Kupiansk Battle of Bakhmut Battle of Avdiivka Battle of Pokrovsk

Nate Vance (born 1978) is an American military veteran (marine) and former volunteer combatant in the Russo-Ukrainian War. He is the first cousin of U.S. politician J.D. Vance and served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps before later volunteering to fight for Ukraine from 2022 to 2025.

In early 2025, after returning from the front lines, Nate Vance drew international media attention for interviews in which he openly criticized his cousin's and the Trump administration's stance on the war.

Early life and family

Nate Vance is the son of James "Jim" Vance, the brother of J.D. Vance's mother, making Nate and J.D. first cousins.

He is about six years older than J.D. Vance and, according to Nate, the two grew up knowing each other well through family summer vacations in their youth.

Nate spent part of his early life in Texas and later in California, where his immediate family settled, maintaining ties with his Ohio-based relatives. Little is publicly documented about his formal education; however, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17 in 1995, suggesting he completed high school before beginning his military service.

Military career

U.S. Marine Corps

Vance served in the Marine Corps for four years. He joined in the mid-1990s, a period when American Marines were not engaged in major active conflicts, so he did not see heavy combat during his enlistment. Instead, he gained extensive infantry and weapons training, an experience he later credited with honing his combat skills. After being honorably discharged, Vance moved to Texas and worked in the oil industry for a time, leading a relatively quiet civilian life before 2022.

Volunteer in Ukraine

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Vance felt compelled to assist Ukraine. In March 2022, he traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, intending "to help" and to witness history in the making. There he connected with foreign volunteers – notably meeting a British volunteer recruiter – and decided to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces. By June 2022, Vance had enlisted in a Ukrainian volunteer unit known as the "Da Vinci Wolves" (a battalion within Ukraine's 1st Mechanized Battalion named after a famed fallen Ukrainian commander).

He served in the battalion's "Honor" Company and quickly earned the respect of his comrades for his experience and skill. Fellow fighters recounted how Vance, being older and ex-military, demonstrated exceptional marksmanship – for example, impressing younger soldiers by hitting distant targets with iron sights, which "stopped the laughter" and earned their admiration.

The battalion's commander, Serhii Filimonov, praised Vance as "an excellent fighter with a cool-headed nature," noting that "fifteen times we should have died — fifteen times we were lucky to survive" under Vance's steady leadership.

During three years in Ukraine, Nate Vance fought in some of the war's fiercest battles. According to reports, he saw frontline combat in major engagements including the battles of Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Pokrovsk – hotspots in eastern Ukraine that experienced intense and sustained fighting. Vance has shared that these experiences gave him a unique firsthand perspective on the brutality of the Russian invasion. On one occasion, he witnessed Russian forces shooting their own soldiers who attempted to retreat, something he said happened frequently enough to appear to be official policy rather than isolated incidents.

"These people, as a policy, will eat their own," Vance observed of the Russian military's harsh discipline, adding that such ruthlessness meant Moscow's leaders "don't care what we think… They are not our allies and never will be".

Vance remained in Ukraine until early 2025. He was formally discharged from Ukrainian service in January 2025.

He later explained that as the U.S. administration was about to change (with a new president taking office in January 2025), he grew concerned that if he remained on the front lines, he risked capture by Russian forces who might target high-profile American volunteers. "It had become complicated to stay. I couldn't take the risk of being captured," Vance said, describing his decision to leave Ukraine just before the U.S. presidential inauguration.

Despite returning home, he expressed a continuing commitment to Ukraine, saying he "wants to continue helping Ukraine" even after active service.

2025 Media interviews and public stance

After returning to the United States, Nate Vance gave a series of high-profile interviews in March 2025 that brought him into the public eye. In these interviews – with outlets including CNN and the French newspaper Le Figaro – he spoke candidly about his differences with the U.S. government's approach to the Ukraine war, specifically criticizing his cousin J.D. Vance (who by that time was serving as U.S. Vice President under President Donald Trump).

Nate Vance, who describes himself as a "Republican-leaning independent" and had been generally supportive of the Trump administration on other issues, said he found his cousin's stance on Ukraine deeply misguided.

One of the most notable statements Nate Vance made was calling Vice President J.D. Vance and President Trump "Vladimir Putin's useful idiots." In an interview with Le Figaro, he argued that by halting or reducing support for Ukraine, his cousin and President Trump were effectively doing Putin's bidding under the false hope of appeasing the Russian leader. "Donald Trump and my cousin clearly believe they can placate Vladimir Putin. They are wrong… We are Vladimir Putin's useful idiots," Vance told the French newspaper, warning that the Kremlin would not "forget" any U.S. aid cuts despite attempts to curry favor.

This blunt characterization garnered worldwide media coverage, with major outlets like the BBC and The Telegraph citing Vance's remarks as a stinging rebuke of the Trump administration's policy.

Nate Vance also condemned the way his cousin treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a White House meeting in late February 2025. (At that meeting, J.D. Vance had reportedly berated Zelensky for being "ungrateful" for U.S. military aid, in what observers described as a confrontational exchange.) Nate criticized the encounter as "an ambush of absolute bad faith" against Zelensky.

He said he initially tried to give J.D. the benefit of the doubt – assuming his cousin's harsh public rhetoric about Ukraine was "to please a certain electorate…just the game of politics" – but the disrespect shown to the Ukrainian leader crossed a line.

Hearing J.D. Vance belittle Zelensky and cast doubt on Ukraine, Nate recalled, left him "disappointed" and even angry.

"I thought I was going to choke," he told Le Figaro, describing his reaction to seeing his cousin justify his "distrust of Zelensky" with dubious reports. "His own cousin was on the front lines… I could have told him the truth, without pretense, without personal interest. He never tried to find out more," Nate said, noting that J.D. Vance had made no effort to consult him about the reality of the war.

Indeed, Nate Vance revealed that he had attempted to reach out to J.D. multiple times during his deployment, offering to share his on-the-ground insight, but to no avail. "Being your family doesn't mean I'm going to accept you killing my comrades," he remarked, emphasizing that familial loyalty could not override what he saw as matters of principle and life-or-death importance.

According to Nate, J.D. never responded to his messages from Ukraine, leaving him frustrated that the Vice President "never tried to find out" the truth from a relative who had literally fought in the war.

His story, often headlined as "JD Vance's cousin who fought in Ukraine speaks out," was covered by outlets around the world, underlining the contrast between the two cousins: one a decorated volunteer soldier urging continued support for Ukraine, the other a high-ranking official skeptical of that support.

J.D. Vance eventually responded to the public critique from his cousin. In a Fox News interview, the Vice President praised Nate as "the toughest guy I knew" and said he would "be happy to talk to him".

However, J.D. expressed puzzlement as to why Nate chose to air criticisms in the media, suggesting that his cousin "could have reached out through family" rather than contacting his Senate office or speaking out publicly.

He also stated that he had refrained from commenting on Nate's service while the war was ongoing so as not to "endanger his life more than it already was" on the battlefield. Despite this response, as of the time of these interviews, it was unclear if the two relatives had reconnected privately.

Personal life and legacy

As a first cousin of J.D. Vance, Nate Vance shares in a family story that gained fame through J.D.'s memoir Hillbilly Elegy, although Nate's own upbringing differed by being largely outside the Appalachian environment depicted in that book. He has remained active in speaking about the war, aiming to continue supporting Ukraine through advocacy and by sharing his experiences.

In interviews, he has stressed the importance of understanding the mindset of adversaries like Russia, arguing that American leaders should not project U.S. thinking onto the Kremlin's actions.