A shadow war is being waged in Ukraine. Away from the limelight, special forces, Western commandos and Russianpaid mercenaries roam. Kyiv has at least 4,000 “Spetsnaz” in the field, soldiers equipped with the best AngloAmerican and French systems. The British sent both missiles and military advisers. Many English raiders came from the ranks of the Special Air Service (the glorious Sas) and the Special Boat Service, the crown jewels.
Citing Captain Yuriy Myronenko, the Times reports that soldiers serving Her Majesty are in Ukraine to teach local recruits how to use Nlaw missiles. Although the British Ministry of Defense is silent, British commandos are likely to be fighting with their Ukrainian counterparts on the front lines. They are supported by US Delta Force units “armed” with fake passports and Ukrainian uniforms. Certainly there are many former elite AngloAmerican soldiers in the volunteer brigade recruited by President Zelenskyy. This would partly explain the excellent performance of the Kiev Armed Forces. Americans have been operating behind the scenes since at least 2015.
The CIA has taught Ukrainian commandos the techniques of counterinterference, sniping, organizing secret resistance networks, and offensive cyber warfare. Canada and France would also be involved. A Canadian contingent of the Special Operations Regiment has been operating in the west of the country since January. Little is known about France. But how did the elite French gendarmerie unit reach the embassy in Kyiv in a matter of hours, in the middle of the war, when the airspace was already in Russian hands and all the roads were clogged with refugees marching? Behind this could be the hand of the French special operations command and its paratrooper regiment. Moscow is no exception. He made extensive use of unconventional powers.
His mercenaries, almost all Wagner, are veterans of the Donbass. The New York Times believes that at least a thousand of them are working in Ukraine today, more than last month. The Russian private military company changed men. He recalled some of those present in Syria and Libya and redirected them to Ukraine. Not only that: Wagner also manages the influx of Syrian mercenaries, veterans of the Libyan war, projecting them from one theater to another. For the Russian leadership, it is a breath of fresh air given the chronic shortage of soldiers. Even if Moscow formally declares war on Ukraine by mobilizing the nation, reservists and conscripts may not be up to the task. Mobilization takes weeks, if not months.
Therefore, the immediately ready mercenaries plug loopholes in a hitherto unsuccessful strategy. There is only one problem: the brutality of the war and the anger towards civilians will only increase. In all missions carried out for the Kremlin so far, they have committed despicable crimes, both in Central Africa and in Mali. Bad news.