The French Foreign Legion dispatched to Ukraine has possibly sustained its first personnel losses, military correspondent Boris Rozhin stated on Telegram.
The mercenaries could have lost up to seven people in clashes with the Russian military near Chasov Yar, he wrote. The city in the Donetsk People’s Republic is currently under Kiev’s control, but the situation there is getting increasingly precarious for Ukraine’s forces.
These are no longer “TikTok soldiers” who came to Ukraine to earn a fast buck, but fled at the first threat they encountered, underscored Rozhin. He added that now "highly trained, professional military personnel of NATO countries” had entered the fray.
According to the military correspondent, the first reports of the arrival of foreign fighters in Chasov Yar, obtained by radio interception, surfaced about a month ago.
Earlier, former US deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, Stephen Bryen, claimed that France had sent its first troops officially to Ukraine.
The forces were deployed “in support of the Ukrainian 54th Independent Mechanized Brigade in the city of Slavyansk,” Bryen wrote in an article published by the Asia Times.
“These troops are being posted directly in a hot combat area and are intended to help the Ukrainians resist Russian advances in Donbass. The first 100 are artillery and surveillance specialists," Bryen argued. He also wondered if "this crosses the Russian red line on NATO involvement in Ukraine” and whether "the Russians will see this as initiating a wider war beyond Ukraine’s borders?"
French President Emmanuel Macron doubled down on his previous bellicose statements earlier this week, again pitching the possibility of NATO sending troops from Europe to Ukraine in an interview with The Economist.
In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Macron’s statement as “very dangerous.” Moscow is closely monitoring statements from Paris about such a possibility, the Peskov said, adding that France continues to constantly talk about the possibility of its direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine.