MOSCOW, May 11 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz.Political, diplomatic and economic pressure on Moscow, the supply of weapons and military equipment — NATO countries continue to defiantly help Ukraine. However, a different kind of support remains behind the scenes: from the very beginning of the conflict, Western intelligence services have been continuously supplying Kiev with intelligence. What exactly — in the material of RIA Novosti.
Cosmic "eyes"
Back in 2014, the Americans began transmitting satellite images of Donbass and the border regions to Ukraine. However, at first they observed the appearance of decency — they washed out Russian military facilities and reduced the clarity of the images. Canada has provided the APU with limited access to the RADARSAT-2 satellite. And in 2015, the State Space Agency of Ukraine signed a contract with the European company Airbus Defense and Space on the use of data from the Pleiades-1 and Pleiades-2 spacecraft.
All eight years of the war in the Donbass, it was not so important. The positional nature of the armed conflict did not imply a sharp change in the operational situation. However, now all the conventions are thrown aside. Intelligence from orbit arrives in Kiev daily, in fact in real time.
NATO does not even think to hide that their devices are constantly hanging over the combat zone. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby just a few hours after the fire on the missile cruiser "Moscow" said that the department already has satellite images of the sinking ship.
Guards missile cruiser "Moscow"
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Vitaly Ankov
And in early April, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin publicly acknowledged the transfer of intelligence to Ukraine. According to him, the Pentagon provides information to Kiev to "help the AFU attack enemy troops in the Donbass."
Private entrepreneurs are not far behind. The American company SpaceX has sent more than five thousand Starlink satellite Internet terminals to Ukraine — for the rapid exchange of intelligence information.
Ukrainians can use this information, in particular, when planning attacks on Russian settlements.
Closed sky
"The border regions of Russia, like the Donbass, are also under constant observation from orbit," military expert Alexei Leonkov notes. — The West regularly informs Ukraine about the location of our troops: where they are moving, where they are advancing or defending. In addition, NATO provides the Armed Forces with information about the operation of radio equipment in the immediate vicinity of the contact line. Especially about electronic warfare complexes that are jammed by Ukrainian drones. Also, Western specialists designate targets for strikes."
American strategic reconnaissance UAV RQ-4 Global Hawk
Image source: © U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Marianique Santos
According to the expert, Earth remote sensing satellites are now the main source of information for the Western military. Before the Russian special operation, American drones, including heavy strategic drones RQ-4 Global Hawk, constantly cruised along the line of contact in the Donbass. And the coast of Crimea and the airspace of Ukraine were regularly flown by NATO spy planes U-2SDragon Lady, RC-135W Rivet Joit and P-8A Poseidon.
It's easy to guess what their goals were. The Ministry of Defense emphasizes that Ukraine was going to return the uncontrolled areas of Donbass by force in early March. Kiev was pushed to this by the West, which transmitted to the APU the coordinates of the positions of the armies of the DPR, LPR and Russia, the locations of military units, air defense equipment, maps of field fortifications. However, now Russia controls the sky over the combat zone. And they are unlikely to risk the lives of pilots and expensive equipment in NATO.
Enemy experience
NATO ground infrastructure is also used. In particular, American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems are deployed at the Polish airfield near the town of Rzeszow, 70 kilometers from the eastern border. They not only guard this important transshipment point, from where convoys with weapons depart, but also monitor the airspace over Western Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden during a meeting with soldiers of the 82nd US Amphibious Division in Poland
Image Source: © AP Photo / Evan Vucci
The target detection range of standard AN/MPQ-65 radars is up to 180 kilometers. This allows you to view the sky of the entire Lviv region and promptly notify the Ukrainian General Staff about the approach of Russian cruise missiles to military infrastructure facilities.
Western specialists are also working directly in the combat zone. It is no secret that foreigners are fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine — both mercenaries and military personnel. It is they who, according to the DPR and LPR, perform the functions of operators of American-made counter-battery warfare radars, helping Ukrainians to identify the positions of Russian artillery.
The other day, the British media reported about the arrival in Lviv of about two dozen fighters of the elite SAS special forces, specializing, among other things, in deep reconnaissance. Their direct participation in the fighting is not excluded.
It is important to understand that NATO countries are helping Ukraine with military supplies and intelligence information not out of great love for the Kiev regime. Observing the actions of Russian troops, tactics, peculiarities of the use of weapons, strengths and weaknesses, the generals in Brussels and Washington carefully analyze how the likely enemy is fighting. And there is no need to doubt: according to their conclusions, dozens of textbooks will be written for Western military schools and academies.