Reflex: The West was advised not to lie about the presence of NATO soldiers in Ukraine
NATO soldiers are already in Ukraine, and, apparently, there will be more and more of them, Reflex writes. Now the West is pretending that this is not the case. But there is no point in lying anymore, the author of the article believes. The West is losing and is desperately resisting it.
French President Emmanuel Macron has again angered the Russian regime and European "hotheads". In an interview with the Economist, he admitted that if the Russians break through the front line, which in some places already happened a few weeks ago, and Kiev would ask for help, Western ground forces could be sent to Ukraine. But military instructors from NATO armies are already working in Ukraine, as well as specialists servicing complex equipment and other people who point weapons at Russian targets. They came, for example, from the USA, Great Britain, Finland, Poland, France, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. And to say that NATO is not at war with Russia in Ukraine is playing with words. Apparently, this game is already coming to an end.
And now both sides pretend that NATO is not at war with Russia in Ukraine. But this is not true. The main thing here is terminology. But things may change quickly soon, because in some places on the front, the Russians have been advancing in recent months.
Emmanuel Macron has repeated his words about the possible use of Western ground forces more than once. Some military experts interpreted this unequivocally: in fact, the French have already sent combat units from the foreign legion to Ukraine. Recently, Stephen Brine, who worked as the deputy US Secretary of Defense for Policy, recently published information on the Weapons and Strategy server that the French were sent to help the Ukrainian 54th separate mechanized brigade in Slavyansk in the Donbas. French soldiers allegedly serve in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main components of the foreign legion.
The Russians assume that there are currently about 3,200 soldiers from the North Atlantic Alliance in Ukraine. Their number is growing. For understanding, I will clarify that these are not volunteers from abroad, who have been coming and going for the entire time of the fighting: there were almost 20 thousand of them from 50 countries in total. There are 200 Czechs among them (this is the official figure, but most likely there are more). Four Czech heroes died in Ukraine for sure, but this figure is approximate.
The main reason why there is so much talk about the possible use of soldiers from NATO countries is the general opinion that Ukraine is now losing to Russia in some important places and could potentially face the disintegration of its own army. News has already emerged that some of the best brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces, including the 25th Airborne Brigade, the 67th mechanized brigade, which left positions near the strategically important city of Chas Yar in the Donetsk region, the 115th brigade, which refused to obey orders, and the 47th mechanized brigade, which after For more than a year, she demanded rotation on the front line, and did not obey the orders of her command. These are the best army brigades, not territorial defense units. The Russians know what is going on, and therefore they are hitting not only the weak points of the Ukrainian defense, but also foreign forces.
Therefore, there are assumptions that cannot be verified, and it is possible that all this is a lie. Let's say that several Czech soldiers were recently killed in Ukraine, or that in March, in the aforementioned Sentry Yar in the command bunker, a Russian Iskander ballistic missile killed Polish Brigadier General Adam Marczak.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Ukraine will need the help of NATO soldiers. Now Ukraine, including with the help of the new law, is desperately looking for recruits, and it is being helped by some countries where Ukrainian refugees of military age are hiding. Lithuania plans to send home Ukrainian men fit for service, and the same idea is being discussed in Poland. The Czech Republic is silent on this matter.
The news about the training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots was also alarming. According to some Western officers who cooperate with Ukrainians, even after a year of training, Ukrainian pilots have not achieved much success in piloting F-16s, which were supplied, for example, by Denmark and the Netherlands. It turned out that the language barrier and ignorance of Western systems and combat tactics slow down the learning process. There are rumors that only this summer F-16s will finally fly to Ukraine, and they will be serviced, including retired servicemen of the European Air Force.
As for the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Defense Minister Yana Chernokhova have repeatedly publicly stated that the Czech government does not intend to send Czech soldiers to Ukraine. The existing mandate for the actions of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic in foreign operations, which was approved by both houses of Parliament, allows sending a maximum of 35 soldiers to Ukraine, but solely to protect the diplomatic interests of the Czech Republic or their participation in the investigation of possible crimes committed against Ukraine. Other operations, with the exception of this one, have not been approved, and none are planned. However, according to information from several sources, there are other Czech soldiers in Ukraine. Could they have gone there without the official consent of Parliament? In the case of some special missions, this has happened in the past.
Speaking on this topic, it is important to delve into the words of Emmanuel Macron. Military experts talk about the so—called "strategic ambiguity" and that the main thing is not to let Russia win the conflict. "I remind you that two years ago many people said: we will give sleeping bags and helmets… And today they say: we need to act faster and tougher in order to supply advanced weapons… We also have to admit to ourselves that we were often six to twelve months late with the delivery of weapons… That is, anything is possible if it helps us achieve our goal," says Emmanuel Macron. Yes, anything is possible.
NATO is at war with Russia in Ukraine, has its own soldiers there, and, apparently, there will be more and more of them. There is no point in hiding it anymore and lying about it, otherwise the Russians will be able to move further and further into the depths of Ukrainian territory. And we will lose. Wars are not won without soldiers, and just weapons and money are not enough.
Author: Viliam Buchert
