The Tucker Carlson Show - Patrick Lancaster From the Frontlines of Ukraine/Russia War: Kamikaze Drones & Attacks on Christians

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

Over the past years, countless American journalists have embedded with Zelensky’s military. On the Russian side, there’s only one: Patrick Lancaster. (00:00) Introduction (01:15) The War Started Much Earlier Than You Think (05:07) The Ukrainian Attacks on the Hometown of Lancaster’s Wife (19:47) Kamikaze Attack Drones (27:52) How Many People Have Died in this War? (37:59) Russia’s Attempt to House Victims of War Paid partnerships with: Identity Guard: Get a 30-day free trial and over 60% off when you sign up at https://IdentityGuard.com/Tucker Cozy Earth: https://CozyEarth.com/Tucker code TUCKER Policygenius: Head to at https://Policygenius.com/Tucker to see how much you could save PreBorn: To donate please dial pound two-fifty and say keyword "BABY" or visit https://preborn.com/TUCKER Subscribe to Patrick Lancaster's Substack Blog: https://patricklancasternewstoday.substack.com/subscribe.   YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/c/PatrickLancasterNewsToday . Support Patrick's Journalism here https://buymeacoffee.com/plnewstoday Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new BMO VI Porter MasterCard is your ticket to more. More perks. More points. More flights. More of all the things you want in a travel rewards card. And then some. Get your ticket to more with the new BMO VI Porter MasterCard. And get up to $2,400 in value in your first 13 months.

Terms and conditions apply. Visit bmo.com slash viporter to learn more. Over the past three years, hundreds, maybe thousands of Western journalists have covered the war in Ukraine from Ukraine and effectively been attached to the Ukrainian government and its military and its many propaganda outlets taking their talking points from Ukrainian government officials, interviewing President Zelensky, always in the most fawning possible way, and effectively carrying water for both the Ukrainian government and NATO and above all for the Biden administration. On the other side, in this war that the United States has effectively paid for, there is one Western journalist, one American embedded with Russian troops.

His name is Patrick Lancaster. He's from St. Louis, Missouri. He's a U.S. Navy veteran. And for the past 11 years, he's been reporting from the region. For the past three years, he's been reporting from the front lines. He's been interviewed by precisely no other mainstream Western media organizations. And so it raises the question, how can you understand a war you're expected to take sides in and then pay for if you're not hearing the other side? So with that in mind, here's Patrick Lancaster.

Patrick Lancaster, thank you so much for joining us. So you're one of the only maybe the only American reporter embedded with Russian troops in this war. How long have you been there? Hi, Tucker. It's really an honor to be on here with you to show a little bit to the world about what the mainstream media does and wants a lot of the people around the world to see. So it's really great and I appreciate the invitation. I have been covering this conflict, this war, for a lot longer than many people understand that it's going on. As you know, this didn't start three years ago. It started in 2014, some say even before, but for all intents and purposes, we could say 2014, when the war started following the events in Crimea, where Crimea rejoins Russia, because there was a referendum. That's where I first started reporting on the situation between Russia and Ukraine. I

went to Crimea for the referendum where the Crimean people voted to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, rejoin Russia. Because before 1956, Crimea was part of Russia. So if you think about this, the people that were born before that year were born in Russia. So there's people living that were born in Russia that were literally so happy to be joining Russia again, going home, as the people on the streets told me when I was there. And I've been there almost every year reporting since then as well. intensity in reporting on the situation between Ukraine and Russia. Because when I went from Europe to Crimea and saw the huge difference of what was being reported in the Western mainstream media about the real situation in Crimea, we were hearing in the West how Russian forces were going to be making people vote to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. And I saw just the total opposite.

People just crying out of happiness to have the chance to rejoin Russia. And those are the real facts. And anyone that has been to Crimea knows that. And anyone that says something besides that is just not telling the truth and trying to hide the truth. And unfortunately, after the events in Crimea, where they joined the northern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, ended up becoming part of what you can say a civil war, where they as well had a referendum to break away from Ukraine, and that preceded the eight-year war, eight-year civil war, where after the vote, the republics that they called themselves Donetsk people, Donetsk Lugansk People's Republics, started to make their own governments, make their own militaries, and they were attacked after this referendum by Ukraine.

And I spent eight years covering the situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk areas, just documenting my part of the puzzle or the pie that wasn't being shown in the Western mainstream media. Because what I was showing then and now, what Western mainstream media doesn't, it's not convenient for them to show, doesn't fit their narrative. So I documented what they weren't, the indiscriminate shelling of residential areas by Ukraine, the targeting of civilian areas by Ukraine. I mean, my wife is from Donetsk and her childhood home was destroyed by Ukrainian shelling, as well as the majority of her childhood neighborhood. So, I mean, these are the facts of the things that happened in the Donetsk and Lugansk territories long before 2022 when Russia came into this war. From 2014 to 2022 is when this civil war took place.

And, of course, Ukraine and the West claimed Russia had invaded all the way back in 2014. That was the narrative then. But eventually that kind of slowly went away when they realized that this eight-year war wasn't really, there was no regular Russian troops taking a part in that. This was a civil war that was lightly supported by the west as ukraine supported by the west wait may i ask a question to clarify something so you said that your um your wife's childhood home was destroyed by shelling from the ukrainian government why were they shelling your wife's house like what did was she was her family part of the fighting? Why would they do that? Well, they pretty much leveled most of her childhood home or childhood neighborhood where her mother's home was.

This neighborhood is just one of the many around Donetsk and the suburbs of Donetsk and specifically around the Donetsk airport. The Donetsk airport was like a symbol of the war back in 2014, 2015, where there was literally so much fighting. There were two terminals. One terminal had the Ukrainian forces in it. One had the anti-Ukraine government forces or rebels or pro-Russian forces, whatever you want to call them, the locals that took up arms to fight to try to break away from Ukraine. And they were fighting.

And basically Ukraine leveled, not completely leveled, but damaged, if not destroyed, the majority of the homes all around this area, around the airport, just with indiscriminate shelling of the areas, the neighborhoods, and just destroying or seriously damaging almost every home and it just so happened my wife's uh childhood home was one of those uh thank god her uh family uh and her made it out okay they were living there when the war started um and uh they they made it out okay but the house was uh destroyed this is just one example of many

homes and families that lost everything in the war. I don't remember hearing in the United States at the time that there was a war in Ukraine. I mean, my sense is this was basically ignored completely and that Ukraine at that time was effectively under the control of the obama administration that was my that was my sense yeah a lot of people don't really didn't really understand what was really happening on the ground but um basically i mean it goes back to the Maidan revolution or whatever you want to call it. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

The locals in the eastern part of Ukraine at that point looked at the Maidan revolution as an illegal coup supported by the West, where it ended up with their democratically elected president, Yadikovych, removed from office without them having anything to say about it, and which effectively made their Ukraine dead and not in existence anymore after a puppet government was put in by the United States in the West. So the people of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas just, they said, okay, well, that's not our Ukraine. Ukraine's gone. Some of them were patriots for Ukraine before. They just said, okay, we don't have anything to do with that.

We're going to have a vote. We're going to vote ourselves what to do with the right of self-determination. And Ukraine in the West did not want to respect the right of determination. And Ukraine basically, in the words by Ukrainian forces on the civilian areas of these regions, specifically the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk. Amazing. Data hawks are collecting your information. Anytime you visit a website, every time you go online, every time you create an account, you make an online purchase, your data is out there and you have no control over who sees it or what they do with it.

So it's only a matter of time until somebody tries to exploit these facts. You have no privacy at all. Use your information to steal your identity. It may be bankrupt to you. It happens all the time. It's happened to friends of ours, kids, and that's why we use Identity Guard. Identity Guard helps by giving you control. It monitors your most sensitive information for any signs of suspicious activity.

If someone's trying to steal your identity, you know right away, often before real damage can be done, before you're on the hook for the money. So if, in fact, your identity is stolen, the expert team will work directly with banks, credit card bureaus, other institutions to fix the problem for you so it's not the disaster you fear it is. While they handle the cleanup, you're backed by up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, which is a huge relief. Imagine waking up and finding out that someone in a foreign country is using your name and social security number to steal money from you. It happens all the time. So the team there is available 24-7 if you ever need help. There are no bots. There are no call centers offshore.

It's based in the United States. They know exactly what you need. Somebody becomes a victim of identity theft about every six seconds constantly. So don't let the next one be you. Visit identityguard.com slash Tucker for 30 days free plus a special discount if you want more. Sign up before this happens to you. Identityguard.com slash talk. At Desjardins Insurance, we know that when you're a building contractor, your company's foundation needs to be strong. That's why our

agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company, so we put our heart into making sure it's protected. Get insurance that's really big on care. Find an agent today at Desjardins.com slash business coverage. Breaking news, a brand new game is now live at Bet365. Introducing Prize Matcher, a daily game that's never ordinary. All you have to do is match as many tiles as you can, and the more you match, the better. We also have top table games like our incredible super spin roulette, blackjack, and a huge selection of slots. So there you have it. How can you match that? Check out Prize Matcher and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please

play responsibly. If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca, T's and Z's apply. So you've been there, rotating in and out, or living there ever since, all these years. How did things change three years ago when the war began? Well, it was quite an interesting time, as you can imagine. Just days, a couple of days before the it all started with Russia. Russia officially came in. Russia officially

recognized the Lugansk and Donetsk republics as separate from Ukraine. And the people had celebrations on the streets out of just celebrating the fact that Russia recognized them. And they knew that that meant that Russia was going to be helping these republics. And then days later, Russia came across the border and the war between Ukraine and Russia started.

You know, one way or another, the war between Russia and the West has started, Western weapons at least. And as many people around the world thought it was going to go a lot quicker than it has, I myself did a report in the center of Donetsk where I assumed and thought that Russia was going to be pushing Ukraine back within days from the city of Donetsk. Because you have to imagine the front line of Donetsk was just on the outskirts of the city. We're talking from the center of the city to the edge, just about to the front line, just about five miles with often just straight shelling hitting the center of the city. And as we know, it didn't end in three days like General Miley said it would.

And there's been a lot of intense battles around these areas. And in fact, right now, I believe there is eight regions between what is internationally recognized as Ukraine or Russia recognizes as Russia. But overall, there's eight regions that have active fighting. Some are Russian, some are pre-war Russian, after-war Russian, whatever you want to call it. We've got the Zaporozhye region, Kherson region, Donetsk region, and Lugansk region, which all four of those had referendums in 2022, September, where the Russian-backed referendums, unrecognized by the West, where they voted to join Russia. And then shortly after, Russia took them in officially.

And then in addition to those four regions, you've got two regions of Russia, theursk region of Russia, where Ukraine came across the border and invaded, incurred on pre-2022 Russia. And actually in the area of Kursk, they controlled last August about 1,500 square kilometers. Since then, it's been really reduced by Russian forces. But in addition to those six territories, we've also got the Sumy region of Ukraine, which there's some villages and some territory that Russia controls. And there's active, very intense fighting going on there. And now that borders the Kursk region. So basically, Russia went past the territory that was controlled by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia and took territory in the Sumy region. Now, also in the Kharkov region of Ukraine,

Russia controls some territory as well. And again, intense fighting going on there. So we've got eight regions with intense fighting. And the war keeps changing. So much has changed, of course, in the last 11 years as far as how the fighting has changed and how it's going on now. And even since 2022 when Russia first came in and now, now the situation is the air war, the drone war.

I mean, it's like the war of the future now compared to what it used to be 11 years ago. I mean, the most dangerous part of my job is actually getting to the front line to film what's happening on the front line. Because in the vehicles, getting there is is just there's always drones around and these are kamikaze drones uh that are the main threat of course there's reconnaissance drones as well but these kamikazes they will just uh hitch they they're hunting vehicles around and going back and forth on the front line and they'll just hit the vehicle and explode. And now they've even gone a step forward where jamming or electronic warfare doesn't affect them because they use fiber optic cables to control these drones,

where this little bitty cable goes from behind the drone to the remote control. They're cabled drones, and they can go up to 30 kilometers. And actually, this right here is some of the fiber optic cable that is used to control these drones. And those are the most deadly on the front line because you can't do anything about it. You can't even detect them with a drone detector. So what is that like? Have you seen the kamikaze drones hit and explode? Well, just over three weeks ago, I was in the Kursk region of Russia trying to actually get back from the front line.

And I was with a team from the Russian forces, Akhmat Brigade, and they were evacuating civilians from the front line. We actually got to the point of, as they called it, the point of zero, which at the edge of the village where we were, was the Ukrainian forces. And as we got there, there were several overhead, and they engaged one on the ground, and it came down. It wasn't that intense, you could say. So they loaded the civilians in this truck. So in the cab of the truck were these four elderly civilians and the soldier that was driving. And then myself and another journalist we got out of the, just outside the village, I happened to be filming one of the soldiers as they were scanning the skies. And the other soldier actually pointed up and said a drone and a few other curse words. And I looked up and there was a drone,

a kamikaze drone. Right away, I knew what it was and I knew the danger we were in. And the soldiers started firing on it, engaging it, trying to knock it down as it was trying to attack us and kill us. And they signaled to the driver and the driver just floored it. It was just driving

as fast as possible. And I'm filming them shooting at the drone and drones trying to hit us. I, I thought that we were going to be, you know, worse, a best case scenario injured. Um, because I mean, it got so close to us as we were just driving, just got right up on us. And then after about five minutes of it chasing us, well, what felt like five minutes might have been a few minutes less. It was knocked down. And how do you how do you knock down a drone? How do you knock down a suicide drone over you? They they were engaging it with a shotgun and machine guns and uh and that's it was coming at us and it was in the video it's a little bit unclear if

their bullets actually hit it or it hit a wire that was going over the road but for about five minutes three minutes something like that they were firing at it with a shotgun and a machine gun. Now the shotgun is the most, the new weapon of choice on the front line because it's got the buckshot and it spreads. And these, the idea is there's more room to hit, just like you're shooting at a bird that's actually what they call these drones birds um so they're they go hunting with this shotgun for these uh drones and luckily thank god god was with us with us that day and uh it did not hit its target um so we we made it uh to report another day. Mother's Day is almost here and you're under a lot of pressure to find something great for the mothers in your life.

So instead of getting something you hope will check the box and waiting to see if the mom you're giving it to actually likes it, give her something she will genuinely love. Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth makes the softest, most breathable bedding and pajamas the women you know have ever experienced crafted from temperature regulating bamboo fabric bamboo fabric it sounds weird but it's awesome try it when you give it people will be a little bit confused and then they will fall in love this is something she will use every single day unlike other presents, you don't have to worry about this

being thrown into the closet and embarrassing silence when you hand it over. Everybody loves Cozy Earth. It's got a hundred night sleep trial, a 10 year warranty. So it's risk-free. Get it today. So skip the flowers,

give comfort that lasts. Cozy Earth. Go to cozyearth.com slash Tucker. Use the code Tucker to get up to 40% off sheets, pajamas, towels, everything they make. And if you get a post-purchase survey, make sure to say that you heard about Cozy Earth from us on this show. I'm here for BetRivers online casino and sportsbook with poker icon Phil Hellmuth. Thanks to BetRivers, I'm also a slots icon. Great.

And a same game parlay icon. Cool, cool. A blackjack icon, a money line icon'm also a slots icon. Great. And a same-game parlay icon. Cool, cool. A blackjack icon, a money line icon, a roulette icon. Okay. If you love games, BetRivers is the place to play and bet. BetRivers. Games on. Must be 19 plus and present in Ontario.

Void where prohibited. Terms and conditions apply. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Whether it's a family member, friend, or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets.

From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details. So one of the most confusing questions in the West is the most obvious question, which is who's winning? And even now we're told that Ukraine, you know, has a shot to win. Lindsey Graham has been saying this even recently. If only U.S. taxpayers would send Zelensky's government more money.

What's what's your perspective as someone who's covering the war from the front lines well i think uh the idea of ukraine winning the war uh is uh just this dream and narrative that's been put out by the west to to make it acceptable for so much money to be putting put into Ukraine to extend this war, to bring Russian forces down in the country of Russia, just to make them use their resources more, including losing more people. I mean, if the United States and the West would not have been supplying the weapons and the funding to Ukraine for the last three years, the war would have ended three years ago, if not two and a half years ago, and hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved um it is the the funding and the support of the west for ukraine is directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of these uh deaths of soldiers on both sides and civilians for that matter um you it's. How many have died? The other question that we can never get a straight answer to or any answer to is how many have died on both sides.

Do you have any guess? You know, it's hard for me to say. You know, my kind of thing in my reports is reporting on what I see, keeping my opinions out of it. So what I can tell you is of what I've seen. One of the hottest areas that I would have been before Kursk and Belgrade, where I am now, was the Mariupol front line, where I followed the Russian front line day by day in the heat of the Battle of Mariupol. And just in that month, I personally saw, you know, between a thousand and two thousand bodies and it was soldiers, civilians. I mean, the whole city was just covered in bodies. In a matter of a 30-minute period, one time I counted 87 bodies just lining the street. And I mean, it was really a horrible

situation. And, you know, just seeing so many war crimes involved, so many testimonies from locals about Ukrainian forces, basically, literally, these are not my words, these are the words of the locals that everything I say can be seen on my YouTube channel. These locals say that Ukrainian forces literally use them as human shields, would set up their tanks in between the apartment buildings and fire at Russian forces. And in other cases, they would directly fire on the civilian buildings, Ukraine forces directly firing on civilian buildings. This is what the locals told me on camera, and it can be seen, not just one-off, a constant daily event. And unfortunately, there was many instances of Ukrainian forces using schools as bases. One of my first days in Mariupol, found a school, school number 25 of Mariupol, I'll never forget it, went into the basement and found that Ukrainian forces were using this basement as a position, military position. And many burned out rooms and weapons, uniforms, flags, Ukrainian flags. And she had a bag over her head. It was clearly raped and tortured.

And it was clearly a civilian from the area that Ukrainian forces had kidnapped and tortured and raped. And they carved, it's actually a little unclear whether it was burned or carved, a swastika on her stomach. And really, it's the first time that it stood out to me, the psychological effect of some of these instances when you see it. In my mind, I still remember seeing a bandage over her head, kind of like something like she was injured and it was bandaged. But if you look at the video, you see it was a plastic bag that was used to execute her. Now, that's just one of the many examples of executions that I've seen by Ukrainian forces. The most recent were in the Kursk region, just this last January, where I was with Russian regular army forces. And they had just days before gotten to this village and basically kicked Ukrainian forces out.

And the village was destroyed. There was a shelter, a basement, basically, that we went down into and found a group of civilians. There was two elderly women and one elderly man that had been killed clearly by Ukrainian forces. Because as we walked down the steps, the smell was so bad we had to put gas masks on. And at the bottom of the steps were, couldn't really say how many people, because it was clear that some sort of explosive, I assume a grenade, was thrown down in the shelter where these people were hiding. And the people near the door, actually with a dog that were there, were just turned into soup, basically.

So it wasn't really clear how many were there. But then as we went farther back into the shelter, we found, as I said, two elderly women that were killed by the explosion and an elderly man. And then back in August, as I said, when Ukraine first came in to Kursk, I was also there and met a man who explained how he was trying to evacuate his family from the Suzha region, which was basically the stronghold of Ukrainian forces when they came into the Kursk region of Russia.

And he explained how he was evacuating his wife, pregnant wife, their one-year-old son, and his wife's mother. And they had two vehicles. And basically they were surprised that war broke out in their village because they weren't part of the war zone before August. And so he's decided he was going to drive in the front car and have his family in the back with his wife driving behind just in case something's happened, it would hit him first

and they might make it away. And they were were he said they were driving, came around a turn and came face to face with a Ukraine or pro-Ukraine soldier. He said just two meters away from him. He said there was no way that the soldier did not see that they were civilians. There was no question they were civilians. And the soldier opened fire. The bullet went through the bill of his cap and a few into his vehicle. And they kept on driving as they were being fired at and got some distance between and went around another corner. And these are his words, not mine. And he saw that his wife's vehicle was slowing down and he waited for it to speed up. And then when her car hit the back of

his car, he knew something was wrong. And he went back to check on his family in the other car. And his wife, pregnant wife, was huddled over their one-year-old son with bullet holes in the side of her stomach. And he picked her up, took her to the nearest hospital they could find. And they weren't able to save her. He tried to do CPR. In his words, massage her heart back to life. And their one-year-old son was injured, but thank God he lived. And then unfortunately, he wasn't able to recover her body for many months afterwards. But now things have changed quite considerably in the Kursk region. As I said, it started in August with Ukraine just surprising many,

coming across, taking 1,500 square kilometers. And then right when they did that, Russia started taking some back. And I was with them. I went with the assault groups to the Ukrainian lines as the assault groups took territory back. And Russia started going and going and going and taking these villages back and almost slowed down as far as the recovery of the territory by Russian forces until last month when an operation of Russian forces literally went into these gas pipes and they tunneled underneath Ukrainian lines and reported 600 Russian forces

soldiers came up behind Ukrainian lines and that operation with an assault from the other side basically collapsed Ukrainian lines, and now there's just a very small amount of Ukrainian forces left in the Kursk region. And just yesterday, there were a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense that some territory had been taken back by Russian forces. Now, unfortunately, this is leaving tens of thousands of people homeless. The homes were destroyed in this incursion or invasion by Ukrainian forces into this region of Russia. And basically the standard thing for the Russian government to do is give certificates for new homes to the victims. They've actually gotten pretty good at it because there's so many regions of people that have had their homes lost by Ukrainian shelling. But one thing that I noticed, it's pretty

interesting about what they're doing in the Kursk region and on top of the certificate. It's getting compared to what the United States does when someone loses their house, say, to a national disaster. The governor of Kursk, Alexander Kinshting, started an initiative to request from Moscow a special stipend or payment of a monthly payment of 65,000 rubles for every member of a family whose home was lost monthly. So, I mean, that's 65,000, that's about $750. So if it's a family of four, that's about $3,000 a month. You know, of course, that's not going to, you know, replace everything in their lives that they've lost,

but it's a lot more than I think what it was the United States giving to some of the natural disaster, I think 700 lump sum payments, something like that. So it's interesting to see the comparison. So think about how you'll feel when you achieve your biggest goals of all, whether it's starting a business, paying off your mortgage, sending your kids to college, having the money to pay for it. You'll be pretty proud when you've met these essential life goals and you should be proud. All of us are when we do that. But what do you do next? So getting to the goals is one thing, but protecting them is an entirely different thing and maybe a bigger thing. And this is where life insurance from Policy Genius comes in. Now,

Policy Genius makes finding and buying life insurance really easy. You probably want life insurance, but it's expensive. And how do you even get it? PolicyGenius makes it simple. And it means that your family has the safety net it needs to cover expenses and to face the future. Nearly half of Americans look back and wish they'd gotten life insurance earlier. It can change everything if you have it, because you don't know what the future holds, honestly. So with PolicyGenius, you can find policies starting at just 292 bucks per year for a million dollars of coverage. And some options are 100% online.

And that means no unnecessary medical exams for you, which is a win. You compare quotes from top insurers side by side. You talk to licensed agents. You secure your families tomorrow with peace of mind today. And it makes it super easy on PolicyGenius. And it's all transparent. You know exactly what you're getting. So you head to PolicyGenius.com slash Tucker. Click the link in the description to get your free quote. That's PolicyGenius.com.

No frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. This episode is brought to you by DAZN. For the first time ever, the 32 best soccer clubs from across the world are coming together to decide who the undisputed champions of the world are in the FIFA Club World Cup. The world's best players, Messi, Holland, Kane, and more are all taking part,

and you can watch every match for free on DAZN starting on June 14th and running until July 13th. Sign up now at DAZN.com slash FIFA. That's D-A-Z-N dot com slash FIFA. So let me ask you, from our perspective over here, the Ukrainian government is not just at war with Russia, but also with Christianity. The Ukrainian government has banned the largest Christian denomination in Ukraine and has embraced transgenderism and other explicitly anti-christian uh forms of expression are you aware of that are the russians aware of that is there a religious component just because their hostility to christianity so obvious i wonder if you notice it well um in i always ask the soldiers on the front line who are document fighting, you know, what they're doing there. Why are they fighting? What are they fighting for?

And often an answer that they give is they're fighting Satan because they view the religious atmosphere so different, as you point out, in Ukraine than the traditional Russian society. You know, so it's quite a... Religion is very important to the Russian soldier. And of course, I think it's quite a bit more than, you know, the traditional you say, there's no atheists on the front line. But this goes a lot deeper into their cultural heritage. Have you seen any North Korean soldiers? No, I have not.

Not a lack of trying i tried to investigate the reports of these north korean soldiers and i was not able to locate any of them of course there's rumors all of the world of this but i was not able to locate any of them how many american correspondents are embedded with russian units that you're that you know of uh one me so no no one from nbc or cnn or fox or pbs or new york times washington post you're not aware of any american correspondents covering the other side in this war? No, no. So does it feel to you that American reporters have basically taken the side of the Biden administration, which told us that Russia is our enemy and are uncritically repeating U.S. government talking points? narrative. And, you know, unfortunately, they try to hide the facts that most of what I report,

they tried to hide and not report on it. And, you know, I tell all my viewers, don't just watch my reports, because I don't have all the answers, but I'm showing you what the mainstream media doesn't want you to see. I'm just giving you my piece of the puzzle, something that you're not going to see anywhere else, unfortunately. But, you know, people need to get as many perspectives as possible and educate themselves. Not just be led like sheep by the mainstream media. I'm very glad there's people like you out there as well that, you know, could give someone a little bit something to think about other than just the narrative that is trying to be forced down their throat.

Yeah, I mean, if you're the only American correspondent embedded with Russian units, then I would think you would be in high demand. I'm embarrassed it's taken me over three years to talk to you. That's my fault. But I mean, I assume you're getting calls every week from American news organizations trying to understand what's happening. Unfortunately, no, they don't seem too interested in discussing things with me or seeing the information that I'm putting out. I would say is a freelance journalist, videographer as well, until I felt like my work was being betrayed because I was giving this material. And then once I saw that the material was being lied about, I mean, one instance, I was in the Lugansk region in Parvomysk when Ukraine forces launched a rocket attack on this soup kitchen. And we happened to be there and I filmed the aftermath and the women saying how Pereshenko was killing them

and their families. Just really horrible. Just targeting civilians by Ukrainian forces with huge rockets. And I sold that material as a freelance journalist to Western outlets. And they turned it around and said that it was Lugansk rebels that fired on the soup kitchen. Just totally lying about the situation. So after that, I decided I'm not going to do that anymore. You know, regardless if I get paid for it or not, I'm going to be showing exactly what I see. And that's what I've been doing since then is just on my YouTube channel showing my reports. I'm only supported by my viewers. Of course, I'll do collaborations with other channels and things if they're interested, but I make it a point not to get paid by

anyone but the donations from my viewers. So the only people that I report to that I need to show what's really happening is my viewers. I don't have any editor or boss that says, oh, we need to show this or show this. No, I show in my reports on YouTube and my Substack blog exactly what's happening exactly what i see with no narrative just the facts that the western mainstream media isn't showing there's so much darkness in the world it can feel overwhelming wars political fighting violence hatred the love between people growing cold and you have to ask yourself where does this all come from well one place it comes from is the refusal of a society to care about people, including babies. As you've been listening to this, untold numbers of unborn babies need help. There are thousands of pregnant women who are trying to decide, should I keep this child or not? Choosing between life and abortion,

a child's future hangs in the balance. Preborn is ready to help. Preborn has a clinic network on standby to help women make that choice, to make the right choice, to choose life, to affirm the value of people, which in the end are all that matters. It helps these mothers choose, not just for the babies, but for themselves. Once introduced to the child growing inside them, women are twice as likely to choose life. Once they know this is not just some massive tissue, but a person, they choose life voluntarily. Last year alone, Preborn rescued over 67,000 babies. They're aiming to save another 80,000 this year in 2025. You can support them. $28 a month can make the difference between life and

death. And $140 sponsors five ultrasounds. You can donate securely. Please dial pound 250, say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 baby, or visit preborn.com slash Tucker, preborn.com slash Tucker. We're honored to partner with Preborn. Introducing TurboTax Business, a brand new way to file your own T2 return, all while getting help from an expert who actually knows small businesses. Got a tattoo studio, toy store, tiny but mighty taco stand? We've got someone who gets small business taxes inside and out. Experts are standing by to help and review while you file, so you know your return's done right

intuit turbo tax business new from turbo tax canada some regional exclusions apply learn more at turbo tax.ca slash business tax remember in 2020 when cnn told you the george floyd riots were mostly peaceful even as flames rose in the background. It was ridiculous, but it was also a metaphor for the way our leaders run this country. They're constantly telling you, everything is fine. Everything is fine. Don't worry. Everything's under control. Nothing to see here.

Move along and obey. No one believes that. Crime is not going away. Supply chains remain fragile. It does feel like some kind of global conflict could break out at any time. So the question is, if things went south tomorrow, would you be ready? Well, if you're not certain that you'd be ready, you need Ammo Squared. Ammo Squared is the only service that lets you build an ammunition stockpile automatically. You literally set it on autopilot. You pick the calibers you want, how much you want to save every month, then they'll ship it to you or they'll store it for you

and ship it when you say so. You get 24-7 access to manage the whole thing. So don't let the people in charge, don't let CNN lull you into a fake sense of safety. Take control of your life, protect your family, be prepared. Go to AmmoSquared.com to learn more. So since you've been there all these years and have a, you know,

a tactile sense of what's happening, give us a couple examples of stories Americans may have seen or read in our media here that you know firsthand are wrong? Well, we can, off the top of my head, the missile attack, Tochka-U attack by Ukrainian forces on the center of Donetsk in 2022 when Ukraine launched a cluster bomb attack on the center of Donetsk. And cluster bombs came down and actually hit just about 200 yards from my apartment where my family and kids and wife were. And my dad was actually in the city with us as well. And we had to throw the, we thought we were getting hit. We threw the bulletproof vests on the kids and threw one of the others under the bed. And I mean, it was not good. And in the Western mainstream media, they said that it was a Russian attack, which is just idiotic. Why would Russia attack Donetsk that hasn't been under Ukrainian control for the last eight years before that.

I mean, just total grabbing of false information to try to portray a narrative that just is not true. And actually, that was the last day that my family was in Donetsk with me. I had to evacuate them as I stayed to show what was happening on the front line. My wife didn't want to leave. As I said, my wife's from Dunyets, but I said after that, just so close to us, I had to evacuate them.

And after that, I just, you know, kind of went solo and went back to my family when I could. And that's what I do even today. Where are you from in the United States? I'm from St. Louis, Missouri. Have you been back to the U.S. over the last three years? In the last three years, no, I have not. How is YouTube treating you well i haven't been uh monetized on youtube basically at all i started my youtube channel in

2014 and there's no monetization whatsoever. Why? On what grounds were you demonetized? It's been literally over a decade ago, but I believe just the fact of war and they're just not interested in putting commercials on my material, I guess because it doesn't fit the Western mainstream narrative. But, you know, it's great that I'm still able to use the platform to show the world some of the things that's happening. But unfortunately, it's not monetized. So I'm only supported by, as I said, my viewers through donations. But, you know, what I do, it's not really because of the money. Yeah, of course, I've got to support my family. But, you know, as I said, after I saw how different what was being shown in the West, what was happening, I just had to do something about it and you know if you would

ask me but before 12 years ago would i be a war correspondent you know going to the front lines with you know showing the reality of what's happening and i'd be the only one doing it it's just would be uh amazing to me i mean given the atrocities you've you've seen some incredibly ugly things you described a few of them um but it's been so long i wonder what effect that has on you as a person to see things like that well i mean uh i would say before this war, I had mixed thoughts about what post-traumatic stress really was and how serious it was. But I can tell you now, there's no doubt that it's definitely a thing. You know, I would say quite different. Of course, everything I've seen here is quite different than when I was in the U.S. military. I used to be in the U.S. Navy from 2001 until 2006.

And I was on the USS Kitty Hawk that was involved with Operation Iraqi Freedom and never saw anything like that there, like I see here, of course. But, you know, I always find it interesting how the U.S. calls all of their operations operations, but when Russia says that it's not a war, it's a special military operation, the Western media makes this big thing about it, how it's illegal to call it a war in Russia and all that, which is total bull. And the war is a war. Operation Iraqi Freedom was a war. And Russia's special military operation was a war. And the eight years before it was a civil war. A war is a war, regardless what you want to call it. And I'm in Russia now calling it a war. Nothing's going to happen for because of it. So that's just another false narrative that the Western media pushed of, you know, trying to say no freedom of speech in Russia and all that. Just total falsehood. So did you know Gonzalo Lira, who was maybe the only other American who was looking critically at what the Ukrainian government is doing. He was murdered by the Ukrainian government, as you know.

Did you ever run across him? And are you worried that if you fell into Ukrainian hands, they would murder you, too? Well, we talked over online a couple of times. You know, he was definitely ballsy for him to go against the Ukrainian government while he was there. And unfortunately it didn't work so well for him. Um, and of course, if, if I was able ever if I ever ended up in Ukrainian forces it would not be in Ukrainian forces hands

it would not be a very nice time you know I've been on the the Ukrainian kill list or whatever you want enemies of the state list which I believe you are as well Meritorits I believe we're both on there.

I've been on that list since 2016, the list that's non-governmental list that they put names of people that are an enemy of Ukraine. And they write, because of my work work that I'm an assistant to terrorism. And they've posted photos of my children, my wife. In the past, they even posted her personal telephone number. She had to change your number because of it. So, yeah, it would not be a good thing if I ended up in the hands of Russian or Ukrainian forces. The Ukrainian war effort has been led by the United States. Do you have any, which is a fact most Americans, I think, even now

don't understand. Do you have any idea how many Americans have been killed fighting for Ukraine? Well, we know it happens. I would say there's probably a lot more that have been killed for Ukraine than is public knowledge. Yes. I mean, you can imagine that there is probably some internal operations on the front line that involved Western Special Forces, and not all of them made it out. I've talked to soldiers, Russian soldiers on the front line about foreign mercenaries or foreign soldiers. And they said they encountered them all the time from European countries, from U.S. and more. And it also, as I actually made a video last month about, it seems Russia is not really playing around anymore when it comes to foreign fighters, what they consider, all the foreign fighters they consider foreign mercenaries. And Vladimir Putin says that these foreign mercenaries do not get the projection of the Jiva Convention, and there's a possibility of execution.

So it really seems like now that there's only two outcomes for these foreigners that come over here to fight if they come into Russian hands. It's jail or death. And I say jail because in the beginning of March, there was a British soldier who was taken prisoner by Russian forces who was, I believe he was taken prisoner in November of last year in the Kursk region. And he went through his trial and was convicted and received a 19 year sentence. So it seems Russia is going pretty strong on the foreigners here. How long do you think this war will go on? It's a very difficult question. this world will go on?

It's a very difficult question. Back in 2022, I tried to make, as I said, the predictions like many people around the world did, and everyone was wrong. I mean, of course, the most important thing is people stop dying. And it would be great if today there was a ceasefire declared and everyone stopped dying and everything went back to peace and all that. anytime soon, unfortunately, because Russia has made it clear that Russian law considers the four regions, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Donetsk, Lugansk, part of Russia. Western law, and of course Crimea, but even now Trump says he's going to say Crimea is Russia, so that's not even worth discussing anymore. But Ukraine law and Western law says that these four regions are part of Ukraine. Russia cannot stop until they control what is legally by Russian law considered part of Russia. Regardless what side of this conflict you favor, looking at Russian law, Russian law cannot stop the war until they control all of what Russian law considers part

of Russia. And I've been saying this for years. It was one thing before September of 2022 when Russia could have stopped and had a quick peace deal. But after September of 2022, these four regions were legally, as far as Russian law considers, part of Russia. And Russia cannot stop until it controls this. And Zelensky, Ukraine, and the West has made it clear that Ukrainian forces are not just going to stand up and leave these regions. Now, if we look at Lugansk, there's 99% of the area of Lugansk that's controlled by Russia. But if you go south to the Donetsk region, there's less controlled by Russia,

with several important key places like Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, which actually hold the water supply to Donetsk. And then, of course, in Kherson, you've got the city of Kherson, Zaporozhye, the city of Zaporozhye, which are cut geographically by a river, is basically the front line now. And I mentioned the water going into Donetsk and down to Mariupol. The reason they didn't cut the water to Donetsk in the previous eight years like they did with Crimea, because that was the first thing they did with Crimea when Russia took Crimea and they cut the water supply from Ukraine, literally dammed the canal that was feeding water to the people of Crimea.

And the water supply was going underneath Donetsk and into Mariupol. And Mariupol had to be fed by water when they controlled Mariupol. But once Russia fully took control, Ukraine shut off the water to Donetsk and Mariupol. And for a long time in Donetsk, you were only getting two hours every three days of water. I mean, just horrible living conditions because Ukraine made the decision to shut off the water to these people. The people that they said they wanted they were trying to stop from leaving the country for eight years um and uh russia made a huge um projects to bring water from the rostov region into the donetsk region and it's still ongoing. And now there's a couple hours a day of water in Donetsk.

That's horrifying. Have you seen any reports of the Ukrainiansupplied weapons showing up in the cartel hands in Mexico and other places. But what I can tell you, I have seen with my own eyes, is Russian forces using these weapons back against Ukraine. Weapons that Ukraine got from NATO countries and Russia captured them and turned them back against Ukraine and is in the process of reverse engineering. I just did a report where I went with a soldier group to a undisclosed location where they had about 20 military vehicles, NATO military vehicles that were on their way to be getting reverse engineered and basically any type of secret information they could get out of them. And that report will be coming out soon. But I would say Russia is getting a lot out of these NATO weapons. Last question. Thank you, Patrick, for taking all this time.

Do you think the U.S. population, Americans, would have supported this war, which they've paid for for over three years, as long as they did, if they'd had factual, unbiased news coverage of what was actually happening there? Definitely not. And one reason is to go back to one of your previous questions about what's not being reported in the West that I could bring to light. Well, let's talk about the people of these areas, specifically the Donetsk and Lugansk areas, for the last 11 years, just wanting to break away from Ukraine and the right of self-determination. And they didn't say this in the media, that these people were not being held down by these rebels or whatever you want to call them. These people were doing their best to leave Ukraine and Ukraine was punishing them for that. They voted to break away from Ukraine. So it's, I mean, definitely, if the Western people would really understand what's really been happening here over the last 11 years, not just the last three years, but the overall situation, there's no way they would have wanted their tax money to be supporting this and killing hundreds of thousands of people. I believe that. Patrick Lancaster, thank you

for doing this interview. I hope you're safe. I appreciate it. I hope you'll come back. Thank you very much, Mr. Carlson. I appreciate you having me. And I definitely am looking forward to the next time. And hopefully one day we meet in person. Godspeed. Thanks. We want to thank you for watching us on Spotify, a company that we use every day. We know the people who run it, good people.

While you're here, do us a favor. Hit follow and tap the bell so you never miss an episode. We have real conversations, news, things that actually matter. Telling the truth always. You will not miss it if you follow us on Spotify and hit the bell. We appreciate it. Thanks for watching.