"I’m done talking, all right? It’s time to take action here."

Nance, who spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy, told host Joy Reid he left the U.S. just a few weeks into Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine after he had seen enough carnage.

“Well, as you know, I spent quite a bit of time here in the pre-war period, and when the invasion happened I had friends in Donetsk in the Ukrainian army who are writing to us and telling us we’re not going to survive tonight,” Nance told Reid.

Nance, who was wearing battle fatigues and wielding a rifle during the interview, said his mission is to protect civilians.

“You know,as the more I saw of the war going on, the more I thought, ‘I’m done talking,’ all right?’” he said from what Reid called a secure location. “It’s time to take action here. So, about a month ago, I joined the international legion here in Ukraine and I am here to help this country fight, you know, what essentially is a war of extermination.”