A thrill-seeking British student who had to be evacuated from Kabul after he went there on holiday as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August is planning to travel to Ukraine.
Miles Routledge was 21 years old and told MailOnline he hopes to visit Kharkiv Donetsk or Crimea. All three places were advised against by the Foreign Office.
Ukraine could be at the edge of war, according to Conservative MP Tobias Elwood who said that a Russian invasion was imminent.
Birmingham-based Mr Routledge acknowledged it to be self-destructive, though he joked that he bought only a single-way flight in order to keep his life afloat.
MailOnline was informed by him that he had been to Ukraine previously and would like to return to the country.
I want to see war. I wish to understand the sentiments of both sides and their views. I hope to also see the key point, if any, of this conflict.
Miles Routledge (21), told MailOnline that he wanted to travel to Ukraine. The country is at the edge of war with Russia.
Mr Routledge has spent time in Kazakhstan (pictured), South Sudan and Afghanistan
He has visited Ukraine once before when he was a teenager. MailOnline – He said that he’d been to Ukraine previously and was eager to visit another country.
Following his holiday in Afghanistan, Routledge was forced to leave Kabul to flee the Taliban.
People who were disapproving of his travels to potentially dangerous areas are dismissed by the former Loughborough Physics student.
He replied, “I would say that I wish them all success but in truth they were not my audience.” Behind each scathing comment about me, it was actually my friends eating popcorn and laughing at them.
“I won’t care what people think. I will travel no matter what. In fact, I plan to go back to Afghanistan. There’s nothing that they can do.
According to Mr Routledge, he saw two convoys of armed men during the Taliban insurgency and snapped a photo at one of their gun positions.
Ukrainian soldiers inspect the vehicles leaving and entering the city from the points that they have strengthened with concrete blocks. This was January 23rd, in Kostiantynivka (Ukraine).
An officer of the Ukrainian military walks near combat positions at the border of Russian-backed rebels, near Horlivka in Donetsk Region, Ukraine on January 22nd
On January 18, 2022, a convoy of Russian armored cars moves on a road in Crimea.
According to Mr Routledge’s Twitter account, he has been seen in South Sudan which is currently in war.
A local from Sudan invited the young man, a Birmingham native. He followed his adventures in Afghanistan and took him to Kenya. Before crossing to Kenya, he spent several weeks hiking through Uganda. He then visited a fan.
Previous statements by Mr Routledge about visiting Chernobyl were made in May 2021, with pictures showing that it had been two years since his last visit to the site of the 1986 Ukrainian nuclear catastrophe.
He said he was hoping to arrive in Lviv, western Ukraine, on Thursday, after a flight from Luton via Gdańsk, Poland.
The Foreign Office advised against all travel to Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea yesterday.
The advisory advised against travel to Ukraine except for essential purposes and encouraged British citizens to declare their presence in Ukraine.
Twitter user Routledge posted: ‘The flight from Ukraine to the UK is as cheap as chips. In the meantime I’ll be applying for Russian visas in order to avoid Russia’s visit.
On Thursday, Mr Routledge will travel to Lviv before heading to Kharkiv and Donestsk.
According to The Foreign Office, travel to Ukraine is discouraged.
He claimed that he was an essential journalist and had regular work in international affairs, which he said helped him avoid Covid isolation rules.
Routledge wears a silver cross on his neck and gives cash out to the street people.
The African country has been ravaged by civil war and violence since becoming independent in 2011.
Training sessions for combat with formations of personnel and units of military units from the Guards Tank Army in the Western Military District of Moscow Region, January 12, 2012
Russia attempted to show its strength by conducting military drills using tanks and explosives
T-72B3 Russian tanks fire as soldiers take part in drills at Kadamovskiy firing area in Rostov, Russia. This range is less than 70 miles away from the Ukrainian border on the 12th of January
After he had fled to Afghanistan, he was evacuated from Kabul.
Routledge boasted previously of his visit to Chernobyl. He posted photos in May, claiming that it had been 2 years since he last visited the spot of the 1986 nuclear accident in Ukraine.
In posts to message board site 4chan and live streaming platform Twitch, he claims he was quizzed by armed Taliban militants while on his way to Kabul International Airport.
He answered that he came from Wales when they asked where he was from. He claimed that the fighters didn’t know Wales and let him go. Routledge later claimed he saw another convoy of armed men during the Taliban insurgency, and took a picture at one of their gun sites.
According to UK defence experts, Vladimir Putin is on the brink of invading Ukraine for a second time – having sent troops into the country’s eastern regions and Crimea in 2014.
It is believed that he wants to keep Ukraine out of the Nato alliance, an American-led defense alliance. He made a list of demands as a prelude to war, which he knew would be denied. These included the removal of all Nato troops from former Soviet republics.
Around 100,000 Russian troops are positioned in striking distance of Ukraine and in recent days military hospitals have been built – often an indicator conflict is imminent.
Boris Johnson, President Joe Biden, and Boris Johnson agreed to a series of economic sanctions that would be ‘unprecedented against Russia’ in the case of war.
Ukraine does not belong to NATO, so the military response won’t be necessary.
Anything the US or UK offer in military support will be hidden and denied.
If he limits his offensive to eastern areas already occupied pro-Russian separatists, he may be able do it.
Then, he could call on the region to be independent of Ukraine as Crimea is.