2014-2021
Lancaster apparently arrived in Ukraine in March 2014, according to him, to cover the aftermath of the Maidan revolution, settling in Donetsk later that year after meeting the woman who would become his wife. [9] In the early days of the War in Donbas, Lancaster worked for several Kremlin-backed media outlets, including RT and Zvezda. [3] [22] From 2015 on, Lancaster has primarily created videos for his own YouTube channel. [3] In 2017, Lancaster was accused of obtaining donations by misleading means, and misusing donations, at this time he publicly disassociated himself from fellow American in Donbas Russell Bentley. [14]
2022-
Lancaster's videos apparently attempt to promote Russian propaganda, yet they have purportedly repeatedly exposed information of Russian war crimes, revealing locations, identities of perpetrators, and sensitive Russian military information. [29] [6] [8] [9] In the early days of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vice Media and NBC News described him as the most popular of the pro-Kremlin influencers spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation on YouTube. [3] Despite this, in his videos, Lancaster refers to the Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions under Russian occupation as being 'part of Ukraine'. [30] [31] [32] Lancaster's videos from Ukraine gained considerable attention until July 2022, when Lancaster's output became sporadic, he then left Ukraine for an extended period, occasionally posting videos from Armenia. In October 2022, Lancaster returned to Ukraine, posting videos to his YouTube channel, and doing podcasts and interviews. [21] [4] In June of 2023, Lancaster did a video report from Rostov-on-Don, where he expressed his support for the Wagner Group rebellion against the Russian Government taking place at that time. [18] [33] [34] Lancaster continued blogging from Russia, and Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine in July, and August of 2023, before returning to Armenia in September for an extended period. [35] In late 2024, Lancaster went to Georgia to do videos on the protests there. [11]
In the Kursk region in March 2025, in the context of the Kursk offensive (2024–2025), Lancaster recorded a video which sparked a conflict in Russia between prominent Russian tv presenter Vladimir Solovyov and representatives of the Chechen Republic in Russia. [19] Lancaster's videos from Russia's Kursk region also showed local residents speaking positively about the Ukrainian army. [20] In late April 2025, Lancaster gave an interview to Tucker Carlson where he dismissed claims of North Korean troops in Russia, stating that he had not found them 'not for the lack of trying'. However shortly after, both North Korea and Russia confirmed that North Korean troops had indeed been deployed in Russia. [36] [37] Writing of Lancaster in 2022, Graham Phillips, for whom Lancaster worked as a cameraman in 2014-2015, stated that Lancaster is an “illiterate, grifting charlatan, with a journalistic acumen and ability lower than a potted plant.” In 2025 Phillips further accused Lancaster of having stolen humanitarian aid intended for Donbas, and stated that Lancaster has Down syndrome. [13] [3]
