NATO Forces in Ukraine Refrain From Combat But Keep Informants on Battlefield - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO has so far not engaged its troops in the fighting in Ukraine but is keeping informants on the ground to monitor developments, determine the effectiveness of the weapons supplied and identify possible cases of embezzlement of the aid provided, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Monday, citing military sources.

The newspaper reported that some of these unofficial informants are retired foreign military officers who are mercenaries in the Ukrainian armed forces.

US and Ukrainian sources were cited as saying that Washington was particularly active in monitoring the use of aid by the Ukrainian military, both via a communication channel between its embassy and Ukrainian authorities, and non-official channels beyond.

Following a Paris-hosted conference on Ukraine in late February, French President Emmanuel Macron said Western leaders had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and, although no consensus had been reached in this regard, nothing could be ruled out. On March 10, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that NATO troops were already present in Ukraine but gave no details on their size and countries of origin.

The United States has delivered a large shipment of military equipment to Greece in order to strengthen NATO in Europe.

Greek media reported that the port of Alexandroupolis was overflowing with dozens of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Abrams tanks. pic.twitter.com/hudEx8oQBS

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 18, 2024

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had taken notice of Macron's remarks and that some of the countries that participated in the Paris meeting on Ukraine had quite a "wise assessment" of the potential dangers of being involved in a conflict with Russia.