UK admits sending troops to Ukraine

LONDON – Marines United Kingdom carry out high-risk operations in Ukraine in April, Lt. Gen. Robert Magowan wrote in the official troop journal. Prior to Magowan’s admission, Russia’s claims that NATO troops were active in Ukraine had been refuted by Western analysts and media.

The 45th member of the Royal Marine Command left Ukraine in January after evacuating the British embassy in Kiev in Poland.

“However, around 300 members of the elite unit were sent back to the country in April to re-establish the British mission in Kiev, before carrying out another covert operation,” Magowan wrote in Force Magazine, according to a Times report. . , which he cited Russia TodayWednesday (14/12/2022).

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“This operation took place in a very sensitive environment and with a high degree of political and military risk,” said Magowan, who previously served as commanding general of the British Marines and is now deputy chief of defense staff at the ministry of Defense.

While Magowan did not explain what missions the commandos had carried out, his statement marked the first time Britain has admitted its troops have carried out special operations in Ukraine. Britain’s Defense Ministry declined to confirm earlier reports of the country’s special forces training Ukrainian troops in Kiev in April.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the conflict in Ukraine as one between Russia and “the entire Western military machine,” and said in September that there are entire military units in Ukraine under the de facto command of Western advisers.

Putin’s statement was rejected by Western media.

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“There is no evidence that NATO ground forces are participating in Ukraine,” Edward Arnold of the Royal United Services Institute think tank told the BBC.

“The NATO commander also directs Ukrainian units on the battlefield. There is also a very small chance of this happening in the future as NATO tries to reduce the risk of escalations,” he added.

Magowan’s admission proved Arnold wrong, but Britain isn’t the only NATO country to acknowledge the presence of troops in Ukraine. An unnamed Pentagon official told reporters in October that an unnamed number of US troops were inspecting a shipment of American weapons somewhere in Ukraine.

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(ian)