Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Western forces have been indirectly trying to "hurt" the Putin regime, by imposing unprecedented sanctions on the Russian state, individuals and businesses, while offering support to the Ukrainian resistance by sending military equipment and humanitarian aid.
But this indirect attitude of the West seems to be changing. First on Friday, the US announced that it would send artillery weapons and US military trainers to Ukraine for the first time, which was an excuse for Russia to announce "unforeseen consequences" to the US and Western allies.
What Ukraine reports
The British Times newspaper today cites sources from two Ukrainian army battalions who claim that Ukrainian recruits have been trained twice in the last two weeks by active British commandos.
In particular, Captain Yuri Mironenko, whose battalion is located in Ukraine's Obolon region, said that British special forces soldiers arrived here as the recruits needed to learn how to use the NLAWs anti-tank missiles, which were sent from the UK to Ukraine in February.
Meanwhile the second commander, who gives only the code name "Bear", commented on the good relationship that developed between British and Ukrainian soldiers, as he stressed "they were invited to visit Britain after the end of the war".
Direct NATO involvement?
Until recently, however, Ukrainian soldiers were mainly trained via YouTube videos, as any training by Western forces on Ukrainian soil could be seen as direct NATO involvement in the war. And there may be British retirees in Ukraine at the moment who are volunteering to help Ukrainian troops but not active members of the British army, as the Ukrainian military claim.
Besides, precisely for this reason and in fear of provoking an angry reaction from Moscow, Britain had since February withdrawn all the British soldiers it had deployed in Ukraine since 2014 because of the Russian invasion of Crimea. Characteristically, Boris Johnson insisted until at least the beginning of March that "under no circumstances should NATO be directly involved in the war."
The British Ministry of Defence nevertheless neither confirmed nor denied what the Ukrainian military said, as it is its standard policy not to comment on special military operations.
As a latest development, on Saturday morning, Russia announced the banning of a number of British politicians from entering the country in retaliation for the UK's "overall hostile attitude towards Moscow", among them Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
Source: in.gr
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