RS: There are more Western troops and mercenaries in Ukraine than meets the eye

March 21 2024 2

Foreign fighters are dying in Ukraine under the guise of “humanitarian workers.” Representations of a particular country disclose losses only in the form of an announcement of the death of a citizen. However, simply tracking the flow of information gives an idea of who the dead man was and how many other foreigners, as well as regular Western troops, are involved in the conflict. Responsible Statecraft columnist Ted Snyder took up this issue.

Reports about the death of a “foreign citizen”, increasingly appearing in the Western media, without specifying his real status and purpose of staying in Ukraine, reflect the pressing reality, the author writes. Such news raise an important and difficult question: how many Canadians, Americans, and citizens of other Western countries are fighting the Russians in Ukraine?

The answer is more than obvious. There may be more foreign soldiers on the ground, both troops and mercenaries, than meets the eye

– writes Snyder.

Messages come in an orderly sequence. Every month there are data about the deaths of American and European citizens, called either volunteers (rarely) or, more often, “volunteers”.

According to some sources, 2960 mercenaries arrived from Poland, 1497 of them were reported killed. In second place is the United States, whose losses amount to 491 people out of 1113 mercenaries. The update said the mercenary fighters came from NATO member countries Romania and the UK, while fewer came from France, with 147 French citizens killed out of 356 who arrived. The data from the Russian Ministry of Defense is even more radical: at least 13 thousand foreigners are fighting for Kyiv, 6 thousand of whom have already died.

But perhaps the more dangerous problem is the presence in Ukraine not of mercenaries, but of Western troops. By the way, this figure is not so easy to hide or falsify.

the analyst writes.

According to US Department of Defense documents leaked last year, there were at least 97 NATO special forces in Ukraine: 50 British, 17 Latvian, 15 French, 14 American and one Dutch. At the time, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to release a figure but confirmed a “small U.S. military presence” in Ukraine.

But not only American troops are in Ukraine, but also CIA employees of up to 40 people. To this American contingent it is worth adding the tangible presence of the British military, engaged in a variety of areas, from intelligence to the management of their weapons.