A recording of German military officers discussing a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge was released by Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya, Sputnik's parent media group, on March 1.
Judging from the transcript, NATO soldiers from the UK, the US and France have been operating in the Ukraine combat zone for quite a while.
"A significant part of the weapons used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces is supplied from the West," Leonid Reshetnikov, a retired lieutenant general of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), told Sputnik.
"In addition, there is a considerable presence of Western intelligence operatives from NATO countries in Ukraine. They have long settled there, in Ukraine, even before 2014 - the intelligence services of the US, the UK, and also other countries."
Likewise, when transferring sophisticated and high-precision weapons to Ukraine, NATO countries usually also dispatch maintenance personnel, repair staff and crews to operate this equipment to the combat zone, the retired intelligence officer continued.
"They have no time for training the Ukraine military in the midst of the special military operation. Therefore the crews of these [NATO] countries have been operating or firing systems such as Patriot air defense systems and other systems supplied by the Americans, NATO members, the French, and the British for quite a while. Of course, they are not deployed at the very forefront, but they operate artillery, air defense systems, and partially tanks," Reshetnikov said.
Similarly, NATO Special Forces disguised as mercenaries have also been deployed in the zone of the special military operation, according to the intelligence veteran.
"Yes, there are indeed some mercenaries [in Ukraine] who had been engaged in this business well before the special military operation. But starting from the mid-2022 or the beginning of 2023, there has been a systematic recruitment of active [NATO] units," he said.
Reshetnikov explained that under this scenario, NATO Special Ops soldiers formally leave their unit and go to the zone of the special military operation as volunteers. However, they are not only paid for participating in hostilities on Ukraine's side, but also retain the income they received while serving in the army of a NATO country. Thus, Special Forces from the US, the UK and France are fighting on the ground pretending to be mere mercenaries.
Given all of the above, one can see that NATO is really involved in the Ukraine conflict and is actively fighting on the side of the Kiev regime, the intelligence veteran emphasized.
NATO Deeply Divided Over Sending Forces to Ukraine
Prior to the Bundeswehr release, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz came under fierce criticism for disclosing information about the presence of the British and French military in the combat zone in Ukraine.
According to Scholz, Western soldiers have been dispatched to operate long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP cruise missiles and help Ukrainian fire at Russian targets.
Speaking to journalists in Berlin earlier this week, Scholz explained why Berlin hesitates to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
"This is a very far-reaching weapon," Scholz said about the Taurus. "What the British and French are doing in terms of target control and support for target control cannot be done in Germany."
Berlin's French and British allies lambasted the German chancellor for what they called a "flagrant abuse of intelligence".
Earlier, the Financial Times cited French President Emmanuel Macron who failed to rule out sending the alliance's troops to Ukraine at a gathering with his NATO allies. What's more, a senior European official told the newspaper that Western troops have long been covertly deployed in Ukraine.
Commenting on media leaks and statements by Western politicians, Reshetnikov outlined two opposite trends. According to him, there are Western politicians, who, like Emmanuel Macron, are willing to expand NATO's involvement in the Ukraine conflict. However, there are also others, who fear that the alliance's presence in the conflict zone may lead to direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.
The latter are openly speaking about NATO's involvement to trigger a public debate and resentment about getting bogged down in Ukraine, according to the intelligence veteran.
"They are spilling the beans in order to somehow stop this, so that the public of their countries support them, so as not to cross the Rubicon, so as not to get involved in a direct open war," he stressed.
Indeed, the US and EU's latest surveys have shown that as the Kiev regime's forces continue to sustain defeats, the Americans and Europeans are calling for a negotiated settlement instead of further arming Ukraine.