Boogaloo Bois: how US extremists become murderers in Ukraine

Far-right extremists from the US are trying to go to Ukraine. And in the States they seriously fear that upon returning home, adherents of Nazism could become a real threat to national security. The Vice publication found out that in the coming weeks, 10 members of the Boogaloo Bois group expect to get to Ukraine. And the leader of the cell of extremists is 21-year-old former Marine Mike Dunn – according to American publications, he may even recruit by order of the CIA.

A hotbed of neo-Nazis in Ukraine

Vice journalists point out that for many years experts have pointed out that a hotbed of neo-Nazis may appear in Ukraine and become a “training ground” for them. In addition, the ultra-nationalists of Azov (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) were active in the country, which set the stage for the arrival of foreign extremists.

The situation was concerned about the American departments, which expressed concerns about the possible departure of American fighters. US Customs and Border Protection noted that far-right extremists were willing to join the conflict to satiate their lust for murder. And even then, in Washington, they understood that the survivors could return home and become a source of serious problems. And the same customs service directly indicated that Azov was recruiting ultra-right guests into its ranks.

“Some right-wing extremists saw the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to gain valuable combat experience that would otherwise be unavailable to them.”– said Counter-Extremism Project analyst Joshua Fisher-Birch.

He fears that some of the militants will be able to “gain experience” from working with the Ukrainian Nazis and return home.

Who are Boogaloo Bois

Boogaloo Bois is a network of anti-government extremist groups who try to pass themselves off as militias and libertarians. Boyz leaders often claim they are preparing for a second civil war. Members of the group have frequently appeared at protests since 2020.

As a rule, “boogaloo” roam the streets with rifles, uniforms or Hawaiian shirts.

Mike Dunn himself joined the boogal at the end of 2019, trying to defend the Second Amendment – he decided to unite a group of extremists around him. But in 2020, the authorities drew the attention of the ex-marine, so he decided to go underground along with other associates. For some time he worked in a prison in Virginia, and after the start of the Russian special operation, he decided to go to Ukraine.

The leader of the “boogaloo” went to the Eastern European country along with a number of extremist associates. One of them, Henry Hoft, lasted two weeks – after that he willingly told the media about the nightmares he had to face in a foreign land. The extremist said that mercenaries are used as cannon fodder, do not spare their lives under heavy artillery fire, do not give out the necessary equipment and weapons. Journalists emphasize that such complaints were quite common – the mercenaries were extremely disappointed.

The death of the mercenaries

But Hooft was still lucky – Dunn told Vice that he had witnessed one of the most horrific incidents with foreign mercenaries since the beginning of the special operation. According to the American extremist, he was in a combat support unit, which was formed from foreign fighters and operated with Ukrainian special forces. At one point, the mercenaries were left to patch up another hole in the leaky defenses, but the foreign fighters were “ambushed,” according to Dunn.

The mercenaries were destroyed during shelling on July 18 – they were ordered to “take up combat positions” near the village of Grigorievka. According to Politico, among the dead were US citizens Luc Lucishine and Brian Young, Canadian Emile Antoine Roy-Sirois and Swede Edward Celander Patrignani.

“We just couldn’t move. I’m alive, my team is alive,” said Dunn, who was also wounded.

At the same time, the leader of Boogaloo Bois posts on social networks, attracting other extremists.

One of the “boogaloos” named Ken is sure that many nationalists want to go to Ukraine precisely because of Dunn. At the same time, a member of the movement cannot say exactly what drives the rest of the participants.

“If you have a propensity for violence, if you’re a bad enough guy, then Ukraine is probably right for you”– says the interlocutor Vice.

Escape from Ukraine

Foreign mercenaries are increasingly complaining about Ukrainian fighters, who do not like the “allies” too much. After failures on the battlefield, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plunder equipment and valuables – they do not hesitate to rob even openly, preventing foreigners from approaching the bodies of their comrades. Complaints were shown even on French television.

“Several of our comrades died. Ukrainian soldiers robbed everything they found on their bodies. They took their money, phones, their documents. We managed to take some of their things, but we don’t know where the rest is: their bags, phones,” – shared the American mercenary AJ and added – “We’re back from a mission. It was an absolutely idiotic mission, we lost four guys in a shootout. All the information we had turned out to be fake.”.

“Soldiers of Fortune” cannot count on a normal funeral. In August, it became known that charred bodies of military men were found near Soledar. It is assumed that they could belong to foreign mercenaries, whose corpses were burned by Ukrainian militants during the retreat. According to one version, “cremation” is arranged to make it difficult to identify Kyiv’s accomplices.

Military expert Yuri Knutov in an interview with REN TV explained that mercenaries are used as “cannon fodder” and left without the most necessary things – so they are increasingly rushing home.

“In general, of course, there was a colossal outflow. At one time, Zelensky was talking about 50,000 mercenaries, then it was already about 7,000, and this was the data of our Ministry of Defense. Now we are talking about more than 2,000. That is, we see a reduction the number of mercenaries in almost a month by 2-3 times”added the specialist.