Head of the U.S. Particular Operations Command Common Bryan Fenton has revealed new particulars on the operations of British floor models in Ukraine, stating that the Pentagon has been studying concerning the ongoing conflict “principally by the eyes of our UK particular operations companions,” who he said had been testing new approaches to trendy warfare within the theatre. Offering an instance, he famous that British particular operations models had been observing and advising on using drones and “the best way a ship within the Black Sea navigates.” The commander’s statements are the newest of many indications offered by Western, Ukrainian and Russian sources of an intensive position performed by British floor forces within the conflict zone. Probably the most notable was the assertion by British Deputy Chief of Defence Workers Royal Marines Lieutenant Common Robert Magowan on December 13, 2022 that a whole bunch of Marines had been finishing up excessive threat operations alongside Ukrainian authorities forces from April. Magowan confused that these had been carried out “in a massively delicate setting and with a excessive degree of political and army threat.” His assertion adopted months of reviews from a variety Russian sources that Royal Marines had been operational and enjoying a big position within the theatre, which was beforehand broadly dismissed in Western media reporting. This was subsequently additional confirmed by leaked Pentagon paperwork.
In December 2023 Polish journalist Zbigniew Parafianowicz revealed that he had been offered particulars on the operations of British forces by Polish officers, with one informing him: “It was a time when the Russians had been nonetheless standing in Bucha, and the route was a gray zone. It was doable to run into Russians. We handed the final checkpoint. The Ukrainians advised us that we proceed at our personal threat… Effectively, and who did we meet subsequent? Ukrainian troopers and … British particular forces. Uniformed. With weapons.” Corroborating the assertion by Common Fenton, the Polish journalist said that British forces had been driving across the countryside with artillery monitoring radars to review the course of the battle and Russian forces’ operations.
Parafianowicz additional revealed that Polish particular forces had additionally been within the theatre from the conflict’s very first levels. Concerning efforts by Western militaries to supply deniability for his or her operations, a Polish officer knowledgeable him: “we labored out a method for our presence in Ukraine … we had been merely despatched on paid go away. Politicians pretended to not see this.” Additional particulars had been subsequently offered in February 2024, when German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz confirmed that British particular forces in Ukraine had been offering very important help to facilitating launches of Storm Shadow cruise missiles in opposition to Russian targets, highlighting that Germany’s lack of a comparable presence prevented it from delivering its personal cruise missiles as they might not be operable with out overseas help. New data relating to the extent of the British position within the conflict effort comes as France has spearheaded calls by numerous European states for additional growth of NATO members’ position on the bottom within the theatre, and shortly follows unconfirmed reviews that French International Legion personnel could have been deployed.
