The White House continues to insist that it will not send troops to Ukraine. Nonetheless, US intelligence agents and dozens of NATO special forces are already operating in the country, the New York Times reported. According to the publication, among other things, they secretly coordinated the supply of weapons and the transfer of intelligence to Kiev .
The Biden administration has said it will not send U.S. troops into Ukraine. However, the New York Times quoted government officials as saying that CIA officers continued to operate in the country and they command much of the vast amount of intelligence coming from the U.S. armed forces.
Meanwhile, dozens of commandos from other NATO countries such as the UK, France, Canada and Lithuania are working inside Ukraine, according to the publication. The United States withdrew 150 military instructors before the conflict began, but its allies continued to train Ukrainian troops and provide overland access for weapons and other assistance.
Little is known about what exactly CIA agents or commandos did. "But their presence in the country hints at the scale of the covert effort to support Ukraine and the risks Washington and its allies are taking," according to the New York Times.
Shortly after the Russian special operations began, the 10th U.S. Special Operations Group "quietly" established a coalition planning group in Germany to coordinate military assistance to the Ukrainian army. The number of participants in the organization gradually increased to 20 countries.
Not long ago, U.S. Army Secretary Christine Warmus said that coalition forces were helping to guide the flow of weapons and equipment into Ukraine. In addition, the unit informed Kiev of possible threats to these supplies.
The team is modeled on the structure used by Afghanistan and is part of a broader operations and intelligence coordination group run by the Pentagon's European Command to speed up allied aid to Kiev. The publication explains that at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, for example, American Gray Wolves train the Ukrainian Air Force.
Western commandos are "not on the front lines" but provide advice to the UAF from headquarters in other parts of the country or remotely via encrypted communications. However, "trace of their covert logistics, training and intelligence support on the battlefield are emerging," the New York Times said.
Several Ukrainian commanders recently thanked Washington for satellite imagery that they could use on tablets provided by allied forces. The Ukrainian armed forces used a battlefield map application installed on the device to "target and attack Russian forces."
The U.S. government does not officially acknowledge the presence of CIA officers in Ukraine or any other country. However, as far as the publication knows, intelligence officers control the transfer of classified information and work mainly in Kiev.
But, according to experts, Ukrainians lack the experience of U.S. intelligence services in fighting insurgency and terrorism. They need classic military training, including how to use the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and other sophisticated weapons, said Douglas Wise, a former senior CIA official.
"We're talking about a large-scale conflict, a modern tank battle with a large armed force. I can't imagine how the CIA trained the Ukrainians to fire HIMARS," Wise admitted.
The Biden administration has sent four HIMARS mobile multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine so far. The newspaper pointed out that this is the most advanced weapon that Washington has provided to Kiev so far, surpassing all other systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in terms of range.
However, some former U.S. officials who have worked with Ukrainian forces have expressed dissatisfaction with its training. For example, they drew attention to the serious difficulties faced by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in evacuating the wounded.
"They're losing 100 soldiers a day. That's almost the same as we were at the height of the Vietnam War . It's bad. They're losing a lot of experienced warriors," a former Trump administration official said Comment on the situation.
Instructors from the U.S. Special Forces and the U.S. National Guard trained more than 27,000 people at the Yavoriv training range near Lviv from 2015 to early this year, according to Pentagon officials. Ukrainian soldier. Advisors from more than a dozen allied nations have also trained thousands of UAF troops over the past few years, something the New York Times drew attention to.
training is mainly limited to small unit tactics, but also involves communications, battlefield medical and reconnaissance. One of the publication's interlocutors stated that these trainings were discontinued until February 24, but are useful even now.
