Britain’s military has assembled a crack team of more than 2,000 Ukrainian troops at a training site in southwestern England to train them for a possible invasion of Crimea, a British tabloid has reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The commandos, who are expected to be backed up by strikes from the air, on the ground, and at sea once deployed, are being trained at the Okehampton Battle Camp in Dartmoor to try to seize the peninsula “before Christmas.”
“The operation to retake [Crimea] will be one deploying multiple assaults on Russian forces,” a senior UK military source said.
The training is reportedly being conducted by personnel from 42 Commando from the Royal Marines’ elite 3 Commando Brigade, formed during World War II and deployed extensively in Cold War and post-Cold War conflicts including the Suez Crisis, the 1982 Malvinas crisis, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“We can train them in our tactics and show how to use equipment, but success will come from the Ukrainians’ own ability to quickly adapt and overcome challenges,” the source cautiously added, perhaps mindful of the fact that NATO training and tens of billions of dollars in support have failed to endow Ukraine’s forces with the ability to punch through Russian defenses to date.
The commando force is reportedly expected to be used as the “tip of the spear” during a potential invasion, and supported by two additional battlegroups.
Russian officials have repeatedly warned Kiev and its NATO patrons of the potential consequences of attacking Crimea. Zaur Smirnov, a representative of the Crimean Interethnic Mission, told Sputnik that an attempt to seize the peninsula would “turn into a disaster for all of Europe, and even more so for Ukraine. Russia has the means and strength necessary to protect its sovereignty, even if it will be necessary to take extreme measures,” he said.
Crimea is a predominantly ethnic Russian peninsula that voted overwhelmingly to break off from Ukraine and rejoin Russia in a snap referendum organized in March 2014, weeks after the US and EU-backed Euromaidan coup in Kiev. The peninsula is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and is one of the most heavily fortified regions in all of Russia – hosting thousands of troops and an elaborate air and sea defense network, including Bal coastal defense and Bastion anti-ship missile batteries.
Ukrainian military officials recently announced plans to mount an operation to try to seize Crimea “soon,” notwithstanding concerns from multiple Pentagon officials expressed to Congress in February that such an operation would be next to impossible.
Half a year on and nearly two months into Ukraine’s counteroffensive, the country’s NATO-backed armies have proven largely unable to puncture Russian defenses along a 1,000 km front in the Donbass, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions, losing vast quantities of its Western-provided artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles, as well as tens of thousands of troops.
A naval invasion, which would require even greater coordination, and amphibious assaults in a situation of overwhelming Russian air and naval superiority, would seem even more risky.