How many NATO officers are now in Mariupol

'I was lied to.' British volunteer ‘manipulated’ into joining Ukraine frontline

1 hour ago

Andrew from Plymouth says he traveled to Ukraine to treat wounded civilians, but within weeks, he found himself shelled, shot, and captured. Recovering in a hospital, he told RT that he and his fellow volunteers were “manipulated” into the very duty they swore to avoid.

rutube.ru...

A very good article for those who doubt Western influence on Ukraine.

The Covert Operation to Back Ukrainian Independence that Haunts the CIA

05/11/2022

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As the planes flew over Lviv a string of parachutes opened, a handful of commandos tumbling into the sky over Soviet Ukraine. On the ground, they linked up with Ukrainian resistance fighters trying to beat back Soviet expansionism. Operation Red Sox, as it was known, was one of the first covert missions of the still new Cold War. The American-trained commandos would feed intelligence back to their handlers using new radio and communications equipment, stoking nascent nationalist movements in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and the Baltics.
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Ukraine’s bloody insurgency was the operation’s centerpiece.
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In Washington, the newly formed CIA floated a potential solution. American agents would scour displaced-persons camps across Europe in search of exiles they could train and then secretly smuggle back into the Soviet Union. They would use them to both gather intelligence and link up with other anti-Soviet movements. But some CIA higher-ups wondered why they should stop there. What if the U.S. could also arm these returned figures, and potentially fracture the Soviet Union?
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Yet, back in Washington, concerns started to grow. On the one hand, there was the reality of who these Ukrainian emigres were actually linking up with. The main body of Ukrainian insurgents, and in particular the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, had already been linked directly to Nazi atrocities in the region. “They were Nazis, pure and simple,” one CIA operations chief said. “Worse than that, because a lot of them did the Nazis’ dirty work for them.”
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As Lindsay O’Rourke noted in Foreign Affairs earlier this year, “out of 35 U.S. attempts to covertly arm foreign dissidents during the Cold War, only four succeeded in bringing U.S. allies to power.”
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Now, though, there’s a new player at hand: a Ukrainian military that has more than proved itself, and that has used Western support to do so. And that — rather than American support for insurgents elsewhere, or American covert operations designed to stir restive populations — will be the deciding factor for Kyiv to finally break free from Moscow’s imperial grip. Which is why American and Western materiel aid to the Ukrainian army cannot stop.
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www.politico.com...

a reply to: turretless



Did russia ever find a single NATO soldier in Marioupol?



Because they were never there.

russia just made the whole thing up.

As we have already noted, the Russian Defence Ministry monitors and records the presence in Ukraine of every representative of this international gathering of "headless horsemen".

Moreover, it is not only mercenaries directly involved in combat operations as part of Ukrainian units that are now included in our databases. We also take into account the trainers who have come to train, assist in the operation and repair of Western weapons supplied to Ukraine.

We will publish these statistics today.

For example, among European countries, Poland is the undisputed leader in terms of the number of mercenaries both arriving and dying. Since the beginning of the special military operation, 1,831 people have arrived in Ukraine, of whom 378 have already been killed and 272 mercenaries have departed for their homeland. It is followed by Romania with 504 arrivals, 102 deaths and 98 departures. The UK is in third place: 422 arrivals, 101 deaths, 95 departures.

Among the Americas, Canada leads the way: 601 arrivals, 162 deaths, 169 departures. The USA comes second: 530 arrivals, 214 deaths, 227 departures.

From the Middle East, Transcaucasus and Asia the largest number, 355 mercenaries, came from Georgia, of whom 120 died and 90 left Ukraine. Then there are 200 terrorist fighters redeployed from the US-controlled areas of Jazira region in Syria. To date, 80 have been eliminated and 66 have left Ukraine.

In total, our lists as at June 17, 2022, include mercenaries and weapons operating specialists from 64 countries. Since the beginning of the special military operation, 6,956 people have arrived in Ukraine, 1,956 have already been eliminated and 1,779 have left.

As long as 3,321 mercenaries are alive, not yet captured, or have not yet escaped to the Ukrainian border.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is taken from the .pdf file at the link (Russian Ministry of Defence publishes data on number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine) with the inscription: Data on the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine - eng.mil.ru...

a reply to: turretless

I see on the MSM that Zelensky is parading in his military T-shirt looking the part of a bunker commander coming up for a breather. It was alleged that he and Macron were discussing Ukraine's fast-track plans to join the European Union. This will be a problem or has it all been worked out. That Russia keeps the disputed territories and what's left of Ukraine is under the protection of the General European army.? this still leaves an armed Nato presence on the Russian border. I would think Russia would want some serious concessions as the Minsk agreement have been violated and no such agreement could be trusted again. The Western governments in reality are in a tenuous state with a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots. If a war breaks out between Russia and Nato countries, make no mistake this is where it is heading. It will be a winter war and we all know who that will favor. If Europe uses Nukes, it will be nuked back, being densely populated the damage will be bad.
But Russia would not want to have an Occupational army in Europe as it would be like a nagging toothache. Or even a Europe with no infrastructure. China would have a lot of goods to sell and no one to buy them, so they might balk at that idea. As in reality, their economy is entwined with America. If America gets involved with all this and we know this is the case, then the American mainland will be Nuked, the place is on the brink of a civil war now, and would not take much more to get a fire going. Trying to keep civil order when all the supply chains are breaking down and going to war with Russia at the same time would be ill-advised. So it looks like Russia will get the disputed territories. Simply because the people who actually are in charge of the western economy would concede Ukraine rather than risk losing everything they have been bequeathed over the generations. They might even be in danger of losing it anyway as it all relies on good management to keep it healthy. They do not seem to have had the foresight and seem to have been ill-advised to favor an extreme rather than a balance.

a reply to: anonentity

The US won't lose anyway.

If their plan had succeeded, they would have taken control of Russia's resources and thrown a few bones to Europe.

Russia has resisted, so now the US can sacrifice Europe by forcing it to impose catastrophic sanctions and accepting capital fleeing from it.