Spanish newspaper claims NATO troops are ACTIVE in Ukraine

By ramontomeydw // 2024-03-26

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A Spanish newspaper has claimed that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops now have their boots on the ground in Ukraine. The March 18 report by Cristian Segura of the El Pais newspaper put forward this claim. However, it took much pains to clarify that NATO personnel are in Ukraine not for combat purposes. Rather, they are reportedly in Ukrainian territory for "arms control, intelligence operations and military training." According to Segura, French President Emmanuel Macron "broke the taboo" in February when he insinuated the possibility of NATO troops fighting Russia in Ukraine. The El Pais journalist continued that Macron's words "also served to confirm that there are already military personnel from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil, albeit without taking an active role in combat operations." (Related: Macron doubles down on possibility of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine.) "NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine, and I would like to thank the ambassadors of those countries who have taken the risk," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told members of the press on March 8. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz previously disclosed in late February that British and French military personnel are in Ukraine. Even Gen. Pat Ryder, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), mentioned in October 2022 that Washington had military representatives stationed in Ukraine. These representatives, he added, were mandated to monitor the supply of armaments. Confidential DoD documents leaked in April 2023 also mentioned that five NATO member nations – the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Lithuania – had around 100 special forces personnel at their embassies in Ukraine. The El Pais article also mentioned, citing multiple military sources from both Ukraine and the European Union, that there are informants on the ground. "Part of these unofficial informants are retired foreign military personnel fighting as volunteers in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU)," Segura noted. These informants purportedly served three purposes – "to provide knowledge about the situation on the front, to identify the effectiveness of the weapons supplied and possible problems in their use … [and] to detect possible cases of corruption concerning the aid provided."

Putin: Foreign troops dying from Russian attacks "in large numbers"

Meanwhile, Czech President Petr Pavel – a former chairman of NATO's military committee from 2015 to 2018 – said during a March 10 interview that the alliance's soldiers have been present in Ukraine for more than a decade. He clarified, however, that NATO troops weren't in Ukraine for combat purposes but to serve as instructors for the AFU. "While a handful of Western leaders have backed Macron's position that deployments to aid Kyiv in the conflict with Russia cannot be ruled out, numerous officials – including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg – have dismissed the idea," El Pais continued. The Czech president referred to the AFU's Yavoriv military base near the Polish border, where an agreement between NATO and Ukraine allowed 1,000 soldiers from 15 countries to pass through. Pavel said military training programs on Ukrainian soil were active when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and during the war that followed. When the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, the Yavoriv base was shelled a month after in March 2022. According to Kyiv, 61 soldiers lost their lives during that shelling. In contrast, Moscow reported 180 casualties – adding that most of them were foreign soldiers. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself addressed the matter on March 17 following his landslide win in Russia's presidential election. According to the five-term president, Moscow is well aware of calls in the U.S.-led military bloc to potentially deploy troops to Ukraine. "We hear both French and English speech there," Putin said. "There is nothing good in this, first of all for them because they die there and in large numbers." "Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a U.S.-led proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians serve as 'cannon fodder' for Western interests. It considers foreigners fighting for Kyiv as 'mercenaries' who are doing the bidding of Western governments," Russia Today noted. "Senior Russian officials have suggested that more complex weapon systems provided to Kyiv are highly likely operated by NATO staff, as there was not sufficient time to train Ukrainians on how to handle them." Head over to WWIII.news for similar stories. Watch this clip from "TruNews" about French President Emmanuel Macron doubling down on possible troop deployments to Ukraine. This video is from the TruNews channel on Brighteon.com.

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Putin: Foreign troops dying from Russian attacks "in large numbers"

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