British newspaper: Western special forces have operated in Ukraine

Western special forces have an unofficial presence in Ukraine, the Financial Times quoted a senior European defense official as saying.

After a meeting of about 20 European leaders in Paris on February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the parties "discussed openly and frankly" and "did not rule out the possibility of the West sending troops to Ukraine". On the other hand, he also affirmed that there is currently "no official consensus" on this issue.
An anonymous senior European defense official explained to the Financial Times that Mr. Macron's statement was part of an effort to put pressure on Russia.

Everyone knows there are Western special forces in Ukraine but they have not officially admitted it," the official said, but declined to give further details. Russia has repeatedly announced attacks against forces it describes as "foreign mercenaries" in Ukraine. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that by the end of 2023, Russia had killed more than 5,800 foreign mercenaries in Ukraine, most of them fighters from Poland, the US and the UK.

Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said more than 60 foreign fighters, mostly French citizens, were killed in a Russian missile attack in Ukraine. At the time, French officials denied the presence of any of their soldiers in Ukraine, although the French Defense Minister said that some French citizens were fighting in the Ukrainian army as volunteers. .

According to a set of confidential Pentagon documents leaked last year, operatives from British, French and American special forces were also active in the conflict zone.

Washington did not confirm or deny any of the information in the leaked documents, but launched an investigation and said it would look into who had access to the information. In late 2022, a British military publication admitted that more than 300 Royal Marines were involved in "clandestine operations in an extremely sensitive environment and at high levels of political and military risk". highness" in Ukraine.


French President Macron's latest statement raises speculation that some Western countries will openly send troops to Ukraine in the near future. The Kremlin warns that if this scenario occurs, a direct conflict between Russia and NATO is inevitable. However, many Western countries have rejected the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine

.From the beginning, we agreed that there would be no infantry or soldiers from Europe or NATO members on Ukrainian territory," said German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz. On the French side, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne seemed to want to clarify President Macron's statement. He said, France can send troops to Ukraine to serve specific needs, not to fight against Russia.

The idea of ​​sending troops into Ukraine appeared in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has entered its third year. The US State Department assessed the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield as "extremely serious" because the Ukrainian army was running out of ammunition.

The current situation is extremely serious. We have seen that Ukrainian troops on the front lines do not have the ammunition they need to repel Russian forces. They still have armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition but must limit their use because the US Congress has not approved a new aid package," US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.