Pentagon Admits US Troops In Ukraine
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – U.S. Defense officials have confirmed previous Worthy News reports that American military personnel is in Ukraine, which faces a barrage of Russian missiles and drones.
The Pentagon told reporters that U.S. forces are in Ukraine to provide training and help keep track of the billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment Washington sent since the start of the Russian invasion.
Brig. Gen. Garrick Harmon, the U.S. defense attaché to Ukraine, said the inspections began with the support of the Office of Defense Cooperation personnel who have returned to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.
A senior U.S. security official told Worthy News in January that American military personnel was in Ukraine, though the White House insisted no combat troops were on Ukrainian territory.
The U.S. source, who then accurately predicted when the Russian invasion would begin, said that American troops in Ukraine include “special forces and of the U.S. Air Force.”
The source, who could not be identified for security concerns, said in subsequent meetings with Worthy News that some 10,000 U.S. forces and troops from other NATO military alliance countries support Ukrainian troops in Ukraine.
INSPECTORS IN UKRAINE
Among them are also inspectors and trainers, other senior U.S. officials said, without revealing how many troops there are currently in wartorn Ukraine.
From 2015 to early this year, American Special Forces and National Guard instructors trained more than 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine near the city of Lviv, the Pentagon said.
Military advisers from about a dozen allied countries also trained thousands of Ukrainian military personnel in Ukraine over the past several years.
Since 2014, when Russia first invaded parts of the country, Ukraine reportedly expanded its small special forces from a single unit to three brigades and a training regiment.
In the past 18 months, it has added a home guard company — trained in resistance tactics — to each of those brigades, Gen. Richard D. Clarke, the head of the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, told the U.S. Senate in April.
The arrival of U.S. troops in Ukraine comes as diplomats fear Russia might use chemical, biological, and even nuclear weapons to fight for control over Ukraine, Worthy News learned. Relentless Iranian- made kamikaze drones and missile strikes by Russia hitting the power grid and civilian sites added to concerns.
BIDEN CONTROVERSY
In unscripted remarks, President Joe Biden seemed to refer to U.S. troops staying in Ukraine when meeting American forces in Poland in late March.
The White House tried to play down the president’s words saying the policy of not sending (combat) troops to Ukraine hadn’t changed.
Yet, Biden said that “the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone. They have a lot of guts. And I’m sure you’re observing it. And I don’t mean just the military, which is, we’ve been training since back when they, uh, Russia moved into, into southeast, southeast Ukraine.”
He added: “But also the average citizen. Look at how they’re stepping up. Look at how they’re stepping up. And you’re gonna see when you’re there. And some of you have been there,” making clear that American troops were in Ukraine.
Biden then told his soldiers: “You’re gonna see, you’re gonna see women, young people, standing, standing in the middle of, in front of a damn tank, just saying, ‘I’m not leaving. I’m holding my ground.’ They’re incredible. But they take a lot of inspiration from us.”
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