- Ukraine’s transgender-American spokesperson denied detransition accusations after posting video without her wig
- Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, 46, hit back at claims made by alt-right activist Jack Posobiec in a back-and-forth on X
- Her denial of the transition comes weeks after she was reinstated as Ukraine’s military spokesperson after being suspended in September
A transgender U.S. spokeswoman for Ukraine hit back at an alt-right political activist who assumed she was transitioning after posting a video without her wig on.
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, 46, was reinstated as Ukraine’s military spokesperson in October after being suspended by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry a month earlier.
She was removed after hitting back at Republican Senator JD Vance in a video filmed in front of the Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces logo, saying the “Russian devils” “will pay for their crimes.”
Now she’s hitting back at another Republican, alt-right political activist Jack Posobiec, who claimed Ashton-Cirillo was crossing over to his 2.3 million followers on X (formerly Twitter).
Posobiec reshared a video of Ashton-Cirillo without her wig on, saying, “It appears that Ukraine’s ex-spokesperson is now undergoing transition as US support for the war in Ukraine declines.”
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo – a transgender US spokeswoman for Ukraine – hit back at an alt-right political activist who assumed she was transitioning after she posted a video without her wig on.
The transgender American responded to Posobiec’s bold assumption on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “I’m not transitioning. I’m nothing ex. And U.S. support for Ukraine is a lasting partnership.”
The transgender American responded to Posobiec’s bold assumption, saying, “I’m not transitioning. I’m nothing ex. And U.S. support for Ukraine is a lasting partnership.”
Ashton-Cirillo had uploaded the candid video to her person
“So I am now two days into my new assignment at ZSU and in some ways it is more rewarding than I could ever ask for, in other ways it is by far the most challenging,” she said.
“It has nothing to do with a presentation like that,” she said — referring to her more stereotypically masculine appearance, complete with short haircut and all-black Yankees baseball cap.
The 46-year-old told viewers: “At ZSU, results matter, executing the mission matters.
“Ultimately, for me, the past two weeks have been full of revelations, revelations that in many ways are beyond words.
“I just wanted to continue to say thank you for the support, thank you for the energy, thank you for understanding that at the end of the road we will find victory and we will find everything that we know is out there. Slava Ukraine.’
Ashton-Cirillo joined Volodymyr Zelensky’s war effort last year shortly after it began and was born in Florida but raised in New York
Ashton-Cirillo joined Volodymyr Zelensky’s war effort shortly after it began last year and was born in Florida but raised in New York.
Ukraine’s military said it suspended Ashton-Cirillo in September because her words in the images she uploaded had not been approved by higher powers, although it is unclear exactly what statements led to the suspension.
In the footage, Ashton-Crillo said: “Russia hates the truth that their obsessive focus on a Ukrainian volunteer simply makes the light of the honesty of the Ukrainian nation shine brightly.
“Junior Sergeant Sarah Ashton-Cirillo has been suspended from the post of spokesperson for the Ukrainian Territorial Armed Forces while an investigation is ongoing,” the Defense Ministry said last month.
Ashton-Cirillo also recently told AFP that she had learned to “embrace the hatred of the Russians” who mocked her gender identity.
In the video, her voice trembled with anger as she hissed: “Next week, the teeth of the Russian devils will gnash harder and harder, and their rabid mouths will foam in an uncontrollable frenzy, as the world will watch a favorite Kremlin propagandist pay for their crimes.
Ashton-Cirillo also told AFP in a recent interview that she had learned to “embrace the hatred of Russians” who mocked her gender identity.
Ashton-Cirillo had started taking feminizing hormones ‘on and off’ in 2018 before making the decision to switch in May 2019 – after what she described as ‘waiting 35 years to embrace myself’
‘And this Putin puppet is only the first. The Russian war criminal propagandists will all be hunted down, and justice will be served as we in Ukraine are guided in this mission by faith in God, freedom and complete liberation.”
The native New Yorker added that she had editorial control over her own production and wants to avoid a dry, numbers-based approach to the war.
Ashton-Cirillo had started taking feminising hormones ‘on and off’ in 2018 before making the decision to switch in May 2019 – after what she described as ‘waiting 35 years to embrace myself’.
The transition included gender confirmation surgery and hair growth.