Daniel Wolfram
A viral YouTube video has put a different spotlight on the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has shown how to modernize the military with its drone systems.
It has also embraced broadcasting the war, the good and the bad.
A former American soldier wanted to come and see it for himself and document it on his YouTube channel. The video then went viral.
Paying his own way
Former US Army officer Justin Taylor retired from active duty in 2024 and subsequently started his own YouTube channel where he provides military commentary. Two years later, he decided to travel to Ukraine to cover the war up close.
The trip was organized alongside the Ukrainian media platform UNITED24 and AIR Brands, a content marketing agency. They helped produce his video, which quickly gained over one million views on YouTube.
Taylor refused any financial backing to avoid accusations of being paid by Ukraine. “I didn’t receive a single dime from UNITED24, and I prefer it that way,” he explained. “Then I can say, “I’m not getting paid to say this.””
With most of his audience lacking military experience, reporting from a distance felt wrong. “I really wanted to get that experience of going over there,” he said, “and also do what I could with my platform to help Ukraine defend itself.”
Frontline Zoom calls
Taylor spent nearly a week near an active combat zone. Nightly drone attacks and machine-gun fire outside his window became the norm.
“There wasn’t a point while I was over there that the area around me wasn’t getting hit, even in the larger cities,” he recalled.
What surprised him most was Ukraine’s clever use of everyday tech: soldiers routinely relied on Zoom and WhatsApp to coordinate artillery fire.
By pairing consumer phones with Starlink, Ukrainian troops matched far costlier Western systems. “There wasn’t anything that they wanted to do that they couldn’t do,” Taylor noted.
A case for more American aid
Taylor celebrated his 30th birthday in Kharkiv while filming. The trip further convinced him that American support remains essential for Ukraine to survive.
He pointed to non-NATO countries such as Georgia and Moldova, which currently have Russian troops on their soil.
Taylor plans to return soon with the same non-economic approach. “I’m not trying to blow anything out of proportion for views,” he said. “I’m genuinely trying to explain how things actually are in that moment.”
Here is the viral video:
Click to display external content from youtube,
– You can always enable and disable third-party content.
