Amidst Kremlin’s destructive disinformation-war in American politics, Preston Stewart has become a key figure in bringing truthful analysis to the US-Ukraine defense alliance
The teller of war stories is a war story in and of itself, about how one of our nation’s top independent military journalists plays a critical role in our international community in a really magnanimous yet down to earth way.
I’ve long been passionate about journalism and politics, but now since the war in Ukraine, I have become deeply interested in military, as I believe military power is the intrepid edge which possesses the only foreseeable solution that can stop russia’s inhumane war machine.
Now, ahead of my next trip to the US Capitol to cover a major event where there will be active service members within Ukrainian Military Command, Dept. of War staff and Congressional legislators, I wanted to write about how I met one of the most trusted American journalists in the Ukraine war, US Captain Preston Stewart in DC this past fall (October 2025), and his influence in my independent journalism practice.
Here’s a little of what we talked about but first a precursor….
Preston’s work has influenced my work from staying informed on latest intel and insider military knowledge to telling the stories of our war, and I am certain some very powerful (and in some cases, very likely soon to be powerless) people are paying attention to him…..
Preston Stewart is a driver of the people’s war effort here in America. He uses journalism to raise awareness and funds… and it is much needed, because here on the American homefront we are deep in the thick of russia’s info-war, which has caused colossal damage on effective US policy-making with regard to Ukraine.
For those following US-Ukraine politics, the history is thus….
In absence of much needed heavy artillery kept locked up by the Pentagon and our “allies”, it just so happens that the Ukrainian people and their real friends took defense into their own hands through grassroots innovation.
Preston is one of those real friends….. an independent military journalist, self-made, on top of privately funding the military.
To that regard, he is extremely well-versed in hitting the nerve of those particularly painful mistakes of our administration that, through the arrogance of US leadership toward Ukraine, ultimately toy with the lives of American soldiers…
And this is but a notch in the long list of of coercion, blackmail, and extortion toward Ukraine for a long string of US administrations.
In a twisted turn of the tables, however, the US government’s failure has now become Ukraine’s success story of how the war torn nation propelled itself to dominate in Drone warfare…. which is the future of warfare….
After NATO’s failure during operation hedgehog military training and daily killboard (“FUCKING“) reports coming out of Ukraine’s defense ministry, at this point there should be no lingering uncertainty that the Ukrainian military is indispensable to us.
The tables are now turned and I believe the US should now really consider revising their approach to Ukraine’s defense alliance, as it Ukraine is definitely holding the cards the Americans want…. Especially now as our nation is at war with Iran, a key state in the terrorist war monger russian axis.
I first learned about Preston during his coverage of the NYT War Crimes allegations against Chosen Company in July 2024. Long and drawn out story short…. these allegations caused a traumatic disruption in my community, as I had been good friends with Jeremy Michael Mueller, aka, Tennessee, an American soldier who fought for Chosen. (Note: like this soldier, Preston is also from Tennessee).
I was worried sick for Tennessee and his brothers for three days straight and could not eat anything…. this is not the first time the war has caused such episodes in my life…. especially Chosen Company. But after watching Preston Stewart’s interview, (I watched the moment it was published) I was no longer worried… but i was deeply inspired by the impact that independent journalism can have over people’s lives, especially in the face of the behemoth mainstream bought by Lord knows who….
Ever since then I have followed Preston and his coverage of the war, which has raked in nearly $1 million in charitable funding for the Ukrainian military in 2025. And still, he remains one ofof the most objective and trusted journalists in the field, reporting on the raw realities of the frontlines on both Ukrainian and russian sides, and giving voice to the guys working toward real solutions. He even told me in person, he never mocks someone’s death… even if it were a russian soldier. “That’s somebody’s child, parent, brother…”
At the same time, he understands Ukrainian hatred toward russians… “Innocent children are dying. If my daughter died in a war… I cannot comprehend how I would feel about that…”
I would not be surprised if Preston was a source of intel for some of the defense decisions being made in our country, and I can’t help but imagine if more guys running the Pentagon were that devoted to the US-Ukraine defense alliance….The war might’ve been over by now……
Flash forward to now I have launched my own independent media outlet, Kyiv Free Press, after spending a very intense summer under russian bombardment in the Kyiv and Odesa regions as well as conducing a variety of interesting interviews in civilian and military sectors, some of which has gone unpublished til this day due to natural causes……….
It has been no bed of roses as an independent journalist, I am an unpaid foreign volunteer, I personally fund most of my work, I don’t have a team supporting me, and i have traveled alone as a foreign woman to live in a country under bombs…but i’d do it again in a heartbeat, and in time, I will……soon my friends…………..
For now there is plenty of work to do here.
The last time I traveled to DC for the war effort was in October 2025… I was at a low point, and I needed to be around people fighting this……….. Then I found out Preston was going… and my morale trip evolved into something else….….imagine how you would feel if you were about to meet a journalist you had followed for a whole year including under bombings………
When I met Preston Stewart in DC, I broke down in tears when talking to him…and i cannot blame it soley on the trauma i’ve suffered from being under russian bombings during the summer counteroffensive… I never wanna be numb to it, but I put my pain aside…. it is incomparable to my Ukrainian brothers and sisters and those who’ve joined them, who have fought and suffered and died for four years on end……
Preston is a chill guy and at the capitol we spoke briefly about several political items………..
He told me he believes that the US should help Ukraine so long as Ukrainians want to fight. I told him my view that the US must shift its policy to empower and equip the Ukrainians, and questioned how much longer we can fight without it. We also talked about media, how there may be lack of pro-Ukrainian media in the russian language, as many folks in Ukraine speak russian, and prefer russian language media. I asked Preston what he thought of the US / NATO getting involved in combat operations in Ukraine, and he told me in more or less words, “Once you start…it’s very hard to stop.”
We can learn a lot from the actions of people such as Preston. Like most of us, I think he wants the war to end, but he’s taking a more pragmatic approach by fully backing Ukraine through providing direct military aid………. unlike the US admin who apparently likes to play monkey in the middle and dawdle on both ends.
He knows war, because he’s fought it during GWOT where he manned heavy artillery, and he shared with me the story of “Love Protests” in Iraq, in which a youthful resistance aimed to quell hatred of conflict.
I am not certain that we are there yet with Ukraine… but I know myself and the Ukrainians I interviewed while in Kyiv would like to see a much stronger russian resistance to Kremlin’s war. I have found these russians in America, whether it be an anti-war math professor… or a russian-born immigrant who has devoted her life to helping Ukrainian refugees…
Sadly, some American Politics and Mediaites such as Congresswoman Ana Paulina Luna and journalist Tucker Carlson (both who reside in Florida where I also live) have taken the absolute contradictory approach to standing with russian people affected by war… and actually have sided with the Kremlin regime, who is sending it’s own people into the meatgrinder.
I told Preston that I think there should be more pro-Ukrainian media in the russian language. Our community has chosen to switch the Ukrainian to support Ukraine, but only a few prominent pro-Ukrainian voices continue to speak in russian, such as Michael Naki. There is still a high population of russian language speakers in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, which highlights the importance of non-official journalists who are pro-Ukraine. Indeed, responsible media is an important tool in protecting national interests, as I have found as I’ve traveled across Ukraine, that people’s attitudes are altered by their regular media consumption.
However, people are against the war, they definitely want it to end, which I shared with Preston. How we end it is the question…
Which is why I asked Preston one very specific request as he reports more on the military side and I speak to more civilians…
I told him that civilians need a bridge to the military. Not just in Ukraine, but all over the world. We need to hear from our soldiers, because it gives us morale, just as civilian support gives the military Morale.
Morale is sacred to our community right now, so I am happy that when Preston came back from Ukraine this past winter, he reported that Ukrainian military’s morale is high.
We need this to reverberate in our civil society, because we not only need reassurance that the Ukrainians will to fight is stronger now more than ever in order for our democracies to support them… but we are also fighting an information war… a psychological operation designed to break our people’s will toward freedom from every angle.
It is important to remember this, especially ahead of critical decision-making, which I am certain will take place soon….
You can donate to Preston’s frequent fundraisers, they are always find them posted on his public channels, and here is one of his latest……… a collaboration with Rachel Jamison, an American woman from the Midwest who’s humanitarian work has been a rare asset to the Ukrainian military….
Likewise, please consider your support of the next subject of my journalism in contributing to the Peace Through Strength institute… These guys are run by some of my friends, once again a grassroots initiative driven by the people’s effort…. They are on the cutting edge of US-Ukraine military affairs, and nobody is doing what they are doing as far as American policy work with regard to Ukraine. Your donation will help offset the costs it takes us to fly in and host active service members of Ukrainian command to share their experiences of FP-dronewarfare on Wed. March 25, 2026 at noon at the US Capitol, to enlighten our nation’s legislators as we move forward on key Defense alliance decisions to achieve and end to the war on Ukraine’s maximum terms.
Donate Now: https://ptsinstitute.us/contribute
Many thanks for your support over the years !
Alexandra Zakhvatayev
March 13, 2026
USA
Kyiv Free Press 
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