US, UK among Western military forces deployed in Ukraine leak suggests; outrage grows over alleged beheading video
- Citing leaked documents on the Ukraine war, British media reported that Western military forces, including US and UK troops have been deployed in Ukraine
- Meanwhile, Ukraine launched an investigation into a gruesome video that purportedly shows the beheading of one of its soldiers
Leaked documents on the Ukraine war alleged to originate from US intelligence suggest that Western military special forces could be deployed in Ukraine, according to British media reports.
The BBC and the Guardian both reported on Wednesday, citing one of the documents, that Britain was deploying around 50 members of its elite unit known as “special forces” in the war-torn country.
Other Nato states are said to have similar units on the ground: for example France has a contingent of 15 and the US 14. According to the reports, it is not clear from the document where exactly the special forces are and what they are actually doing on the ground.
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The British Ministry of Defence does not give details of such special force missions and would not comment on the reports when asked. On Tuesday, however, the ministry posted a general reaction to the leaks on Twitter: The documents contained a “serious level of inaccuracy,” it said.
One should not take the claims in them “at face value,” as there is the potential for the spread of misinformation, it added.
What appear to be classified documents from US intelligence agencies have been circulating online for weeks – often in pro-Russian channels – with apparent intelligence details about the war in Ukraine drawing particular attention.
Leaked reports also believed to be from US intelligence are also causing concern in South Korea.