As Russian troops inch farther into two regions of Ukraine, a former U.S. serviceman trained in psychological operations said he learned from an earlier deployment to the country that not all the fighting happens on the battlefield. 

What You Need To Know

• Landon Hollander deployed to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2016 after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014
• He learned to speak Russian and the multifaceted influences on Ukrainian culture
• His focus was on long-term messaging from Russian State Media and the Kremlin
• He worked out of the public affairs office at the U.S. embassy with local Ukrainian journalists
• Hollander trained in psychological operations to promote pro-Ukrainian and pro-American information to combat Russian Propaganda

Landon Hollander pulled out a stack of photos from his tour of duty overseas before his Tuesday afternoon classes at Wake Tech. Hollander’s first deployment to Ukraine was from the Fort Bragg Army base in 2016. The soldier turned junior college student said he was sent to Kyiv, Ukraine after Russian forces invaded the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

“These are really good memories, honestly, because when I was there, the tensions weren’t as high as they are now," Hollander said.

Looking at the photos took him back in time.

When Hollander was there, he said his role was clear: “We were there to combat Russian misinformation. That was the big deal,” the veteran said.

Hollander served 10 years in the Army, nine of which were on active-duty, before leaving the service in 2019. In 2009, during his first year of service, he learned to speak Russian.

“People think it’s crude because they don’t understand it,” he said. Hollander referenced certain films as reasons some Americans have shaped their views of Russia. “You have ‘Rocky’ and ‘Red Dawn,’ but Russian is a beautiful language too,” he said.

The 32-year-old would take that knowledge a step further when studying the native tongue and Russian linguistics at the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, California from 2014 to 2015. He said the school gave him the equivalent of a four-year collegiate experience about the various influences on Ukraine’s culture in 12 months. This made it easier for him to integrate and assimilate into Ukrainian culture. 

“We were there to help, and the Ukrainians we were working there appreciated us being there," Hollander said. 

The ongoing military conflict in 2022 boils down to Ukraine maintaining independence from Russia in Hollander’s eyes.

“The Ukrainians, they are their own people. They are Ukrainian. They are not Russian. They are Ukrainian, and they are trying to defend their country. It’s their country, it’s their home, it’s their culture, it’s their language and they just want to protect it,” he said.

He said he worked primarily with the public affairs office of the United States embassy, which is under the Department of State, as an information specialist. Most of the time he dressed as a civilian in a suit and tie.

He would use his communication expertise to fuse the goals of the Department of Defense and DOS into one.

”Their goal and their part of the peace is to avoid war. Us coming from the DOD, traditionally we fight the war. But for my job we were there to help prevent the war using military means,” Hollander said.

His primary job was promoting pro-American and pro-Ukrainian information for the Ukrainian people by working alongside the DOS on behalf of the DOD, fighting back against Russian propaganda.

“Being a Russian linguist was just a benefit on top of my real job,” he said. “I wouldn’t even say complex is the right word. It’s an ocean of it (misinformation). It’s widespread.”

He said President Vladimir Putin and Russian state media swiftly disseminate their narrative.

“Their game plan is to flood the information space with as much pro-Russian propaganda as they can. What you hear first is what is going to stick in your mind, and they leverage that concept to the extreme. So they pump out information about anything and everything with the spin to make them look good," Hollander said.

“Fighting against that is almost impossible,” he said. “They kind of go with whatever accomplishes their goal(s) no matter the means. While we are trying to be the good guys, and we are playing the good guy role.”

The battle for truth forced the soldier to work with local Ukrainian news media and journalists.

”We relied heavily on local partners. So we worked with local Ukrainians who worked in news and who worked in non-government organizations, NGOs,” he said.

He says even those who fight to spread facts and not fiction could lose their lives. During Hollander’s first deployment, he said one day on his daily walk to breakfast before going into the embassy, he heard an explosion on the street in Kyiv.

“When we went back to walk past it to go to the subway, we saw the burnout car of a journalist that had been assassinated. That’s another thing that made it real because that’s not the only time that happened while we were there,” he said.

Hollander is studying to receive his associate’s in engineering. He says one day he would like to work at NASA.