RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Pentagon leak exposes NATO special forces in Ukraine
One of classified US military documents that has made its way online shows the presence of 97 NATO special forces operators in Ukraine as of March 1, 2023, of which 50 were British, multiple UK outlets reported on Tuesday.
The Guardian said it had seen two files, dated late February and early March, that listed 50 British special operatives as being active in Ukraine. The US had 14 special operatives in the country, and France another 15.
The documents were labeled “secret” and were prepared for senior US defense officials, according to the outlet. The daily updates contained information about NATO military operations, logistics, weapons deliveries and training of Ukrainian troops.
Another UK outlet, Declassified, noted that the 14 US special operators were among the 29 Pentagon personnel present in Ukraine, which included the Marine security detachment at the US embassy in Kiev and military attaches. Another 71 State Department personnel were in the country as well, amounting to a total of 100 Americans.
Declassified also noted that the slide was marked “not releasable to foreign nationals.”
While US special operators come from two units, Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force, the British definition extends beyond the Special Air Service (SAS) to paratroopers, marines, and other units. The prime minister is not obligated to brief the Parliament on their deployment.
Dozens of classified US military documents have been discovered online over the past week, attracting considerable media attention. The US government has not officially confirmed their authenticity, but the Pentagon has launched a hunt for whoever leaked them, and the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation as well. Russia and Ukraine have largely shrugged off the documents as irrelevant.
While Washington and London have never officially confirmed the presence of their special forces in Ukraine, multiple media outlets have reported on it over the past year. In April 2022, the French daily Le Figaro claimed that SAS and Delta Force operators had been present since the beginning of Russia’s military operation, waging a “secret war” on behalf of Ukraine.
The British Daily Mirror reported that dozens of “retired” SAS operators had gone to Ukraine to contribute their expertise to Kiev’s cause, funded through a private military company in an unnamed European country. Shortly after those revelations, the Times said a number of SAS operators had “returned” to Ukraine to teach Kiev’s soldiers how to operate British-made anti-tank rockets.
The outlet Grayzone reported in November that British special operators had been working through a private company called Prevail Partners to train Ukrainian saboteurs targeting Crimea. In December, a British military publication admittedthat up to 300 Royal Marines had been deployed to Ukraine for “discrete operations.”
** All administrative buildings in Artyomovsk controlled by Russian forces — DPR head
All administrative buildings in Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) are controlled by Russian forces, acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said on Tuesday.
"All administrative buildings are already controlled by our forces," he said in an interview with Russia’s TV Channel One.
Pushilin stressed that he had been to Artyomovsk to see it with his own eyes, adding that he hardly saw any building not seriously damaged there, which could be "slightly reconstructed" and used in the future.
Earlier, Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said that Russian forces controlled more than 80% of Artyomovsk, including all administrative centers.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia's Wagner claims it controls most of Bakhmut; Kyiv says forces holding firm
The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group on Tuesday said his forces controlled more than 80% of the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after some of war's heaviest and bloodiest fighting.
Senior Ukrainian military officials did not address the claims directly, but said their forces were holding firm against fierce attacks in what once was a city of 70,000 and keeping Russian forces in check.
Wagner fighters have led Russia's months-long efforts to capture Bakhmut. The grinding trench warfare and constant artillery barrages have drawn comparisons with World War One because of massive casualties inflicted on both sides.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces, who have played a major role in Russian advances in the east, were pressing on with their encirclement of Bakhmut.
"In Bakhmut, the larger part, more than 80% is now under our control, including the whole administrative centre, factories, warehouses, the administration of the city," he said in a video posted by a Russian military blogger.
The Russian-installed head of Donetsk region, one of four areas declared annexed by Moscow last September, said Russian forces had backed Ukrainian defenders into a corner.
"In the western areas where their units are dug in, they have no choice other than coming forward and giving themselves up," Russian news agencies quoted Denis Pushilin as telling state television.
Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Military Command, said the situation in Bakhmut was under control, adding Kyiv would not allow its troops to be encircled.
Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Malyar acknowledged that Bakhmut "took the main hit" in fighting. But Russian forces, she said, "are generally losing to us in street battles so they are simply destroying all buildings and structures".
Kyiv says it needs more and better Western weapons to beat Russia, and senior Ukrainian officials pressed ahead with their bid to persuade allies to open up stockpiles.
"IRONCLAD" U.S. SUPPORT
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday tweeted that he had received assurances of "ironclad" U.S. support from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, hosting his Ukrainian opposite number on Tuesday, pledged fresh supplies of assault rifles, machine guns and ammunition.
Prigozhin has previously made claims about Russian control of the mining city that turned out to be premature, but Ukraine acknowledges the situation in what it calls "fortress Bakhmut" is now very difficult.
Russia says the capture of Bakhmut will open up the possibility for future offensives across Ukraine, while Kyiv and the West say the now smashed city has only symbolic importance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to keep defending Bakhmut, but last week acknowledged troops could be pulled back if they were in danger of being encircled.
Russian forces have made only incremental gains in their advance through eastern Ukraine. Kyiv says opposing forces have sustained heavy losses after launching a mobilisation of some 300,000 men late last year.
The lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday moved to close loopholes in the draft by introducing electronic military draft papers for the first time in its history. Government officials said there were no plans to compel more men to fight in Ukraine.
RT/TASS/Reuters
