Washington: United States along with a dozen NATO countries have its commandos helping tattered Ukrainian forces on the ground. Adding men, training, machinery, equipment, arms, ammunition and intelligence is being shared from bases in different countries. A damning report by New York Times has exposed how west is pushing Ukraine towards more destruction as it is pounded by the Russia.
According to NYT, ‘outgunned’ Ukraine has been badly hit by the ‘grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine’, the country cannot stand the ‘onslaught’ but only by the ‘help from the United States and its allies’. West has deployed ‘stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training’.
Quoting a a former Trump administration official and another officer who has worked inside Ukraine, NYT claimed that Ukraine is losing 100 soldiers a day like in the height of the Vietnam War for US. Adding to it, the report revealed that ‘experienced people, most battle-hardened and well-trained forces’ have been lost by it. This has been called by US officials as the ‘Ukrainian military’s most acute training problem right now is that it is losing’.
Even though, a former US official said that having American trainers on the ground now might not be worth the risks,especially if it prompted an escalation by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Other US officials have said that the ‘is the help worth the possible price that is going to have to be paid?
An official told NYT: “An answer is probably not.”
The gamble
According to current and former officials, CIA is operating mostly in the capital Kyiv, ‘directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces’, while there are bases outside Ukraine, in Germany, France and Britain, for example.
There are commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, working inside Ukraine.
“Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Army’s 10th Special Forces Group, which before the war had been training Ukrainian commandos at a base in the country’s west, quietly established a coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops. The cell has now grown to 20 nations,” reads the report.
Army Secretary Christine E. Wormuth offered a glimpse into the operation last month, saying the special operations cell had helped manage the flow of weapons and equipment in Ukraine
“The cell, which was modeled after a structure used in Afghanistan, is part of a broader set of operational and intelligence coordination cells run by the Pentagon’s European Command to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops. At Ramstein Air Base in Germany, for example, a U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard team called Grey Wolf provides support, including on tactics and techniques, to the Ukrainian air force, a military spokesman said.,” in the report.
