Special military forces of some NATO countries operating inside Ukraine

Kathmandu: The recent leaks of US intelligence documents showed that the special military forces of some NATO countries are operating inside Ukraine.

The UK is among a number of countries with military special forces operating inside Ukraine. According to the document, dated 23 March, the UK has the largest contingent of special forces in Ukraine (50), followed by fellow Nato states Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1).

However, the document does not say where the forces are located or what they are doing. The numbers of personnel may be small and will doubtless fluctuate. But special forces are by their very nature highly effective.

In line with its standard policy on such matters, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has not commented, but in a tweet on Tuesday said the leak of alleged classified information had demonstrated what it called a ‘serious level of inaccuracy’.

‘Readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that have the potential to spread misinformation,’ the ministry said. It did not elaborate or suggest which specific documents it was referring to. However, Pentagon officials are quoted as saying the documents are real.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation and he was determined to find the source of the leak. ‘We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it,’ he said.

The documents that were surfaced on Friday by open-source intelligence researchers appear to have been posted online in the past few weeks. They appear to contain classified information on topics ranging from the mercenary Wagner Group’s operations in Africa and Israel’s pathways to providing lethal aid to Ukraine, to intelligence about the United Arab Emirates’ ties to Russia and South Korean concerns about providing ammunition to the US for use in Ukraine.

The documents, which are said to have been originally posted on Discord and widely shared on social media platforms such as Twitter, are labelled ‘secret’ and resemble routine updates that the US military’s Joint Staff would produce daily but not distribute publicly.

They are dated ranging from 23 February to 1 March and provide what appear to be details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine with more precise timelines and amounts than the US generally provides.