The pro-Trump activist and MAGA-aligned commentator says she traveled to Ukraine to test the anti-Ukrainian narratives she once repeated — and to show her audience what Russia’s war looks like firsthand.
Laura Loomer travels to Ukraine after reversing her position on Russia’s war
Laura Loomer, a prominent MAGA-aligned commentator and activist close to Donald Trump’s political orbit, has arrived in Ukraine after publicly acknowledging that she had repeated anti-Ukrainian narratives shaped by Russian propaganda.
Loomer announced her arrival by train and said she came to Ukraine “to see the country with my own eyes.” In a post quoted in the source material, she wrote that she would try to find evidence for the propaganda she had been fed — and, if she did not find it, would tell others so they could “see the light.”
“I’m not in Russia because I’m not a propagandist,” Loomer wrote in a caption accompanying a video of her arrival.
The visit marks a striking public reversal for Loomer, who had previously expressed hostility toward Ukraine and sympathy for Russia. In February 2024, she wrote that she did not “like Ukraine,” had “never been there,” and did not have “a single bad feeling about Russia.” She also promoted claims that Ukraine was full of Nazis and opposed U.S. aid to Kyiv.
Loomer says she was “lied to for years”
Loomer’s current message is sharply different. After arriving in Ukraine, she wrote that she had been “wrong” and said she had a responsibility to correct the record.
“I was living in a media echo chamber, and I was propagandized by Russian media on social media to believe those things,” Loomer wrote. “So I came to Ukraine to see the country for myself.”
In another post on X Loomer wrote: “I think I fell for Russian propaganda.”
Her first public observations from Ukraine focused on themes likely to resonate with conservative American audiences: Christian victims, Russian violence against civilians, abuse of Ukrainian prisoners of war, and the Kremlin’s use of “denazification” rhetoric to justify the invasion.
On her first day, Loomer said she saw photos of priests killed in Bucha and a mass grave where murdered Christians were buried after Russian forces entered the area. She also said Ukrainian officials showed her photos of prisoners of war who had been abused by Russians.
“Who are the Nazis?” Loomer wrote. “I was lied to for years.”
From anti-Ukraine rhetoric to pro-Ukraine messaging
Loomer’s shift is significant because of the audience she commands. She is one of the most visible activists in the MAGA media ecosystem, with an audience of more than two million people. Donald Trump follows her, and she has been described as having direct influence on some decisions inside Trump’s political circle.
That audience matters for Ukraine. Much of Kyiv’s challenge in the United States is no longer only diplomatic; it is also informational. Ukrainian officials and supporters must reach voters who consume politics through influencers, podcasts, Telegram channels, X accounts, and partisan media personalities.
Loomer appears to understand that. She has said she plans to use her trip to show “millions of Trump supporters and Americans just how brutal Russia is” and why the United States could become a target if it does not “wake up.”
Her posts from Ukraine have focused on issues with clear appeal to conservative audiences: Russia’s attacks on religious communities outside the Russian Orthodox Church, the abduction of Ukrainian children, Moscow’s alignment with Iran, and Russian and Chinese interference in U.S. politics.
Why the timing matters
Loomer’s reversal comes amid a broader split among right-wing American commentators over Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, and loyalty to Trump.
Loomer’s shift might be also linked to her conflict with conservative figures such as Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson. Loomer has accused some right-wing commentators of breaking with Trump and showing sympathy toward forces hostile to Israel and the United States.
The timing is notable because Owens recently traveled to Russia and spoke at a forum in St. Petersburg, where she was promoted by Kremlin-linked propaganda media and praised Russia. For Loomer, who has been in a bitter feud with Owens, that trip appears to have intensified her criticism of pro-Russian narratives inside parts of the American right.
Another factor was the Ukraine visit by an editor connected to Loomer’s podcast. He traveled to Odesa and Kyiv, experienced Russian shelling, saw destruction in residential areas, and met officials, religious leaders, activists, and civilians. After returning to the United States, he concluded that Ukraine was defending values important to Americans while Russia was trying to erase Ukrainian history and culture.
A podcast episode aimed at MAGA listeners
Loomer’s Ukraine visit is expected to feed into a special episode of her podcast. That matters because the trip is not only a private reassessment; it is becoming political media content.
In a recent podcast, Loomer described how years of accusations about “Russian interference” in U.S. elections had caused some conservatives to become reflexively sympathetic toward Russia.
“We got fed up with it being blamed for everything, and many of us began to view it with excessive sympathy,” she said.
Loomer argued that some conservatives had become emotionally vulnerable to Russian messaging because they had been repeatedly accused of being Russian bots or part of a Russian campaign to help Trump in 2016.
“But now, when I hear Russians say, ‘We must denazify Ukraine’ or ‘We must continue our brutal war against Ukraine,’ while at the same time positioning themselves as an Orthodox Christian state — even though in reality they’re killing hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainian Christians and supporting real neo-Nazis in the U.S. — I think, ‘Wow, we fell for Russian propaganda,’” Loomer said.
The statement is politically important because it reframes support for Ukraine not as a liberal or establishment position, but as a conservative correction to Russian manipulation.
Analysis
Loomer’s Ukraine visit is significant less because she changed her mind than because of where the change is happening.
Her reversal is taking place inside a political media ecosystem that has often treated Ukraine skeptically and Russia more sympathetically. By saying she was manipulated by propaganda, Loomer is challenging one of the core assumptions that has shaped anti-Ukraine messaging among some conservative audiences: that criticism of Russia is merely a recycled establishment attack on Trump.
That does not make Loomer a neutral observer. Her trip is also part of an internal fight among right-wing personalities, and her criticism of Russia overlaps with her disputes with figures such as Candace Owens. But political motives do not erase the effect of the message.
For Ukraine, Loomer’s new position creates an unusual communications opportunity. She can speak to Trump supporters in a language and format Ukrainian officials often cannot. Her emphasis on murdered Christians, abducted children, Russian ties to Iran, and Kremlin disinformation is tailored to conservative concerns.
Laura Loomer’s arrival in Ukraine marks one of the more unexpected reversals in the American right’s debate over Russia’s war. After years of anti-Ukraine rhetoric, she now says she was deceived by Russian propaganda and intends to show her audience what she sees on the ground.
The durability of that change remains uncertain. But the immediate significance is clear: Ukraine has gained a high-profile messenger inside the MAGA media world, and Loomer’s trip is turning the argument over Russia from an external criticism of conservative narratives into an internal dispute among conservative influencers themselves.
