She arrived in Ukraine in March 2022, shortly after the full-scale Russian invasion, and has variously served as a war correspondent, a representative in aid negotiations, a civilian analyst with the Ministry of Defense, and a combat medic.

Ashton-Cirillo drew national media attention in 2021 when she released records of conversations from her time working with Republican candidates, documenting efforts to recruit members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, for a planned "Brooks Brothers Riot" (alluding to the 2000 demonstration)[10] as part of efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 United States presidential election.

[b] After witnessing and reporting on the October 2022 Kyiv missile strikes—including posting a controversial widely shared video that showed a dead body—she resigned from LGBTQ Nation to become a combat medic in Ukraine's Noman Çelebicihan Battalion, a Crimean Tatar unit.

She was subsequently assigned to the Territorial Defense Forces, and became one of its English-language spokespeople in early August 2023; she was suspended in late September pending investigation of unspecified unapproved statements.

[20] She wrote a book about the experience, Along the Tracks of Tears, but was unhappy with its quality, having been preoccupied with concerns about whether the people she traveled with would have accepted her if they knew she was a trans woman.

[27] She later told the Post and Nevada Current that her initial purpose in switching parties was to conduct research for her book on extremism and help her friend, Nadia Krall, get elected to a local judgeship as a Republican.

[19] Taking on a hard-right, Trumpist persona, Ashton-Cirillo developed ties with Nevada Republicans by attending and hosting rallies organized by prominent party figures.

[10] She commented to the Post that her record as a liberal activist was available on the internet,[10] and told the Beast that "these guys were too stupid to look into my progressive politics, because they were so eager to tokenize me".

The day after the election, Ashton-Cirillo received a message from the vice president of McShane LLC, a firm hired by the Republican Party to investigate electoral fraud.

[10] In early 2021, Ashton-Cirillo worked to coordinate the defense of Leo Blundo, a Republican[29] Nye County official accused of unlawfully voting to give his own business CARES Act funds.

Blundo denounced the accusations as "deep state, swamp behavior" and Ashton-Cirillo hailed him at a press conference as "an innocent man", to applause from the crowd.

[35] Chattah: Do you know that Aaron ford opposed ESA and converting schools in low income areas to charter schoolsAshton-Cirillo: Yes imaginary issues for an imaginary administrationChattah: This guy should be hanging from a fucking craneAshton-Cirillo: And fictional mediaChattah: Through Political.tips, Ashton-Cirillo reported on Nevada-related aspects of BlueLeaks, a set of law enforcement data released by Distributed Denial of Secrets in June 2020.

[37] In an article related to BlueLeaks, Ashton-Cirillo leaked texts with her former friend, Sigal Chattah, then a Republican candidate for Nevada Attorney General.

Having transitioned since her time in Syria, she was initially hesitant to enter the country based on things she had heard about LGBT rights in Ukraine.

[20] While her Nevada driver's license reflects her changed name and gender identity as a woman, her U.S. passport does not, and as a result, she was issued a press credential that refers to her primarily by her current name but notes her former name as well.

#StandWithUkraine️ In this same time period, Ashton-Cirillo developed close ties with the Ukrainian army and police, sometimes bringing them food[20] and delivering weapons to checkpoints.

[20][b] Ashton-Cirillo experienced significant harassment on Twitter from supporters of Russia as a result of Zakharova's post, including threats of kidnapping, torture, and death.

[20] She sued an American conservative commentator for defamation after he repeated conspiracy theories that she had had Lira murdered;[56] her lawyer was later ordered to rewrite the suit because it contained "politically-charged declarations and personal attacks".

[11] In his Examiner opinion piece, Zivo said that Ashton-Cirillo had first sought to enlist in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU or UAF) in July, but had delayed her plans in order to support other foreign journalists during the September Ukrainian counteroffensive.

[4] Her footage of the aftermath, which showed a dead body in the street, was widely shared on social media subsequently, stoking controversy.

[63] According to Ashton-Cirillo and journalist Ayder Muzhdabaev (the latter writing in a blog post with Ukrainska Pravda), the Crimean Tatar unit is led by Lenur Islyamov [uk; ru].

[66] She told the Blade that she had won praise in her unit after Russian state media featured footage of her firing a machine gun and vowing to retake Crimea.

[71] After Ashton-Cirillo was wounded, Russian forces placed a bounty on her, as they have with other high-profile soldiers, causing the Ukrainian Army to cease using her recognizable nickname Blonde over the radio.

[75] Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, cited Ashton-Cirillo's reach on Twitter of 28.3 million users over a one-month span and praised her work "debunk[ing] Russian fakes and propaganda".

[75] Ashton-Cirillo's YouTube shows "Ukraine in the Know" and "Russia Hates the Truth", produced from a studio in Kyiv, led to an hour-long special on Russian television calling her a "terrible disgrace to the Ukrainian people".

Senator J. D. Vance, who has opposed U.S. support of Ukraine,[78] wrote a letter to several Biden administration officials accusing Ashton-Cirillo of threatening violence against "anyone who circulates 'Russian propaganda'" and querying her background and connections to the United States.

That's what matters to them.She has likewise favorably contrasted her experience as a journalist in both countries, telling Vorozhko, "I had more freedom as a reporter in Ukraine, under martial law, than I would trying to even film the police in the United States".

[72] Malcolm Nance, an American media pundit who joined the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, praised Ashton-Cirillo's commitment and said, "Artillery shells don't give two fucks about your gender identity.

[86] Zivo countered in the National Post that Ashton-Cirillo, as a "conservative-friendly ... patriotic, brave and non-identitarian" trans person, presented an opportunity "to show that human decency can transcend the culture wars", even if "she considers some of [the Examiner's] content to be hateful".

[8] J. K. Rowling, an author known for her controversial views on transgender rights, retweeted Ashton-Cirillo's post about being wounded, which drew the attention of Times Radio[88] and El País.