“On October 27, 2024, Russian servicemen conducting combat operations near the village of Bohoyavlenka (DPR) evacuated U.S. citizen Daniel Martindale from the combat zone and brought him to Donetsk,” a security source stated.
According to Russian security forces, Martindale had been on Ukrainian territory since February 11, 2022.
Martindale proactively established contact with Russian law enforcement agencies and for two years reported the coordinates of Ukrainian military facilities. The information received from Martindale was continuously used to inflict fire damage on infrastructure, equipment, and personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The DPR defenсe headquarters reported in late October that the US national played a key role in preparing the assault on the village of Bogoyavlenka in the Ugledar direction. The issue of granting Martindale a political asylum and Russia citizenship was being resolved.
Martindale, who held his first news conference since coming to Moscow at the press center of the Rossiya Segodnya media group on Saturday, said that he was staying in Moscow voluntarily and no one forced him to be in Russia.
"No one has forced me to be here, I am definitely in my right mind, in good health. I am doing this completely out of my own goodwill, I am very happy to be here, very happy to discuss the topic that is at hand today," Martindale stressed.
The US national said that he arrived in Ukraine on February 11, 2022 from Poland and wanted to head to Donetsk.
He also called the situation in Ukraine a Washington's "attempt to contain and to repress Russia" in its path to be "an equal player in the world," adding that the US is fighting against the world and its own citizens on Ukrainian soil.
Martindale thanked Russian soldiers and special services for evacuating him from the conflict zone.
"I will say that it is a big thanks to the soldiers from the 29th Army of Eastern Russia that they have crossed the front line to come and get me... I should also put in a very good word for all of the Russian special services who were involved in coordinating the whole effort, the whole operation," Martindale said at a press conference at Rossiya Segodnya news agency, adding that they had done everything very professionally.
The Ukrainian government is responsible for deaths and tortures of hundreds of thousands of people, adding that the Kiev regime must serve justice, the US national stated.
"I don't see any other option except that the Kiev government be completely disarmed, and it would be the best, I suppose, for them to be brought to court, and to be judged either be by Russian law or international law, like the criminals were in Germany," he emphasised.
Martindale said he believed that Russia would win "sooner rather than later," despite Washington's continued support for the Ukrainian armed forces.
"If Washington continues to support the war, I believe that Russia in any case will win. Sooner rather than later, we can see a just end to the war," the US asserted.
When asked about the election in the United States, Martindale said that he did not support either of the nominees and that he would vote for a candidate who stood for peace.
"If I happened to be in the US right now, it definitely would need to be a candidate who is for peace," the US national stated, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin was running in the US election, he would vote for him.
Full interview bellow (English):