The Author is Former Director General of Information Systems and A Special Forces Veteran, Indian Army

The US has been saying that it will not commit regular troops in Ukraine. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson too was repeating the same though it has become the norm for Britain to play poodle to America. With a croissant named after him in Kiev, Johnson visited Ukraine twice as Prime Minister, vociferously supporting war on Russia. Recently, hevisited Kiev again after being forced to resign his premiership.

Interestingly, after visiting India and seeking an FTA, Johnson said India has arbitrarily detained British-Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal who was arrested in 2017 over his alleged role in killings by the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) – a banned terrorist organisation. This, despite Johnson having done nothing to extradite Indian economic fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and others despite an extradition treaty with India but is readily extraditing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US.

Now it has become more than evident that the US and NATO are not only waging a proxy war but also a high-risk secret war against Russia in Ukraine. CIA, MI-6 operatives and Western Special Forces in the garb of mercenaries and civilians continue to operate inside Ukraine, particularly in Kiev, in addition to bases in countries like Germany, France, Britain and Poland.

US Army’s 10th Special Forces Group established a coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops

After Russia launched special military operations in Ukraine during February 2022, the US Army’s 10th Special Forces Group established a coalition planning cell in Germany to coordinate military assistance to Ukrainian commandos and other Ukrainian troops. The cell has now reportedly expanded to include 20 countries. Similar to the cell the US had in Afghanistan, this cell in Germany is part of a broader set of operational and intelligence coordination cells run by the Pentagon’s European Command to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.

The Western propaganda machinery from inside Ukraine is directed entirely by the CIA and MI-6. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedian-President of Ukraine has allowed himself to be manipulated by the US and NATO, resulting in thousands of Ukrainian casualties, massive destruction and millions of refugees.

Russia had said few months back that some 6,000 Western mercenaries are in Ukraine, many of whom have been killed or captured by Russia. Ukrainian sources had admitted that almost 80 per cent of its elite forces, Azov Battalion included, have been killed in the war with Russia. But now Ukraine says that it is launching operations to regain territory lost to Russia, which would involve physical capture not just aerial and artillery bombardment and missile attacks. It is very much possible that more Western mercenaries and regulars are being pumped into Ukraine.

The Western propaganda machinery from inside Ukraine is directed entirely by the CIA and MI-6. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedian-President of Ukraine has allowed himself to be manipulated by the US and NATO.

According to some US and European sources, Ukraine can hardly resist the Russian onslaught without the stealthy network of Western commandos and spies rushing in to provide weapons, intelligence and training to Ukrainian forces. These include commandos from NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania. But actually the support goes beyond this to include intelligence and operational support, as also expert operatives to handle certain weapon systems. In addition, is the network of American contractors (perhaps Black Water) deployed across Ukraine for logistics support to Ukrainian troops.

Appearing frequently on videos, Ukraine President Zelenskyy alleges that Russia is shelling and weaponzing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is Europe’s largest. Simple logic would tell you that if Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is in Russian control and Russian troops are deployed in the vicinity, why would it shell the plant? If Russia wanted to disconnect this plant from Ukraine’s grid, shelling is surely not the only option available. But the Biden-Zelenskyy duo is hell-bent on claiming ‘all crows are white’ - knowing fully well that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attack the nuclear power plant which implies crossing the nuclear threshold.

UN General Secretary António Guterres recently visited Ukraine with Zelenskyy shouting from rooftops about the impending nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station which in all probability he is shelling himself or on orders from Washington. Guterres is naturally worried about any nuclear disaster anywhere but he also said that there should be no embargo on Russia for exporting food items and fertilisers. The US and Zelenskyy continue to raise the bogey of a nuclear disaster. Now an IAEA team is to visit Zaporizhzhia.

On August 28, 2022, a cargo Boeing-747 of the Iranian Air Force arrived in Moscow, and a day later returned to Tehran. The US media says that the Iranians have delivered the first batch of their drones for use by Russia in Ukraine. Concurrently, Turkish media says that Iranian drones are low quality, which is not surprising since it affects the Turkish drone industry. Everyone has a different axe to grind. China has said that supply of US-UK nuclear powered submarines to Australia is nuclear proliferation that would set off a race.

In July 2022, America’s Republican Senator Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “The people of the US do not want war with Russia, but NATO and our foolish leaders are dragging us into it. The escalation over Ukraine carries the risk of using nuclear weapons. A war that no will win... Ukraine is the new Iraq, wrapped in a nice NATO bow, with a nuclear gift inside. The only people who want a war with Russia are those who make money from it.”

Ukraine can hardly resist the Russian onslaught without the stealthy network of Western commandos and spies rushing in to provide weapons, intelligence and training to Ukrainian forces

Major weapons supplied by the US ‘alone’ to Ukraine include: High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS); TOW missiles; 155mm howitzers and 105mm artillery ammunition; 120mm mortars; National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS); Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS); Switchblade tactical drones; Puma unmanned aerial systems; Harpoon coastal defense systems; Scan Eagle UAS; Vampire counter-unmanned aerial systems; Stinger missiles; Javelin missiles, and; High Speed, Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM). Ukraine has also been observed using 122mm HE artillery projectiles made by Pakistani Ordnance Factories (POF), which are probably supplied by Britain.

Biden has done some perfunctory fiddling with the gun law for fear of the gun lobby. But the DNA of all American Presidents is to bootlick the powerful arms industry in the US for their own political survival and the American economy. That is why the US keeps igniting conflicts world over with no consideration to anything else.

According to a two-day poll conducted by the Harvard/Harris Research Service in June 2022, seven out of ten people in the US do not want Joe Biden to run in the elections in 2024. 45 per cent of respondents said Biden is a bad President, another third attributed this to Biden’s age who will turn 80 this year, while another quarter said they think it's time for change. But 61 per cent of participants surveyed also believe that Donald Trump should not participate in the next election.