Last Updated on 03/13/2022 by てんしょく飯
As the Russian military siege of the capital city of Kiev is in full swing, a team of U.S. and British intelligence and special forces personnel has been formed and is working inside Ukraine to protect President Zelensky, who is inspiring the people. This elite team has reportedly secured a route to get Ukrainian government officials out of Kiev in the event of an emergency.
Protect President Zelensky!
The report was published mainly in British tabloids, and although the veracity of the specific information is unknown at this time, such information is “almost never” published through legitimate channels. Although the story may be exaggerated because it is not verified, there is no doubt that U.S. and British intelligence agencies are committed to the Ukrainian government, and it is believed to be true that such maneuvering is going on behind the scenes.
Elite U.S. and British units advise Ukrainian military
According to a report by Jiji Press as “information from British sources,” a U.S.-British team entered the area last year in 2021 and formulated a basic plan in December of the same year. Currently, the British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS) is helping President Zelensky with personal security, presumably advising the Ukrainian government on security.
Interestingly, according to the same article, the mixed U.S.-British team is divided into three groups and is not only protecting the president, but also advising the Ukrainian military. It is likely that they are being provided with U.S. and British intelligence information and are heavily involved in the operation, possibly partially advising on the practicalities of bringing in supporting weapons from NATO countries and on the dissemination of information by the Ukrainian government, in other words, on psychological warfare.
According to British tabloid newspapers, 70 members of the SAS and 150 members of the SEALS, the U.S. Navy’s special forces unit responsible for President Zelensky’s escape operation, are training for the operation at a base in one of the NATO member countries, and Ukrainian officers are also participating in the training, but the credibility of this information is questionable. The degree to which this is the case is unknown at this time.
In the midst of the Kiev onslaught
In any case, if President Zelensky and Ukrainian government officials were to flee Kiev, it would be in the midst of an onslaught by Russian forces. Moreover, at that time, Russian special forces will probably be on the ground to kill or abduct President Zelensky.
An exfiltration operation in such an environment would be an extremely dangerous mission. Real-time intelligence information from the U.S. and the U.K. on the movements of Russian forces will be indispensable, and the most elite personnel from the U.S. and the U.K. will be deployed.
However, the U.S. and the U.K. have already conducted a considerable level of operations in the intelligence field. The Ukrainian military is putting up a surprisingly good fight against the Russian offensive, which is superior in terms of strength, and there is no doubt that this is due in large part to the intelligence cooperation provided by the US and the UK.
NATO is unable to move directly to the defense of Ukraine to avoid war with Russia, but instead conducts covert activities behind the scenes. Such activities are normally kept secret, but this time, by leaking them to the media and making them public, it is believed that NATO, especially the U.S. and U.K., are aiming to demonstrate that they have a strong will to “protect” Ukraine. However, since the Russian side was probably aware of this level of information in the first place, the disclosure of the information itself will not have a very large impact.
Covert operations execution unit
The U.S. and the U.K. are engaged in this clandestine activity, but the U.S. CIA is in charge of it, and the U.K. MI6 (*also known as MI6. Officially, SIS) is supposed to support it. It is usual for U.S.-led U.S.-British intelligence agencies to work together in dealing with such conflicts.
Such operations are usually led by the CIA’s “Operations Directorate Europe” operative in charge of Russia and Ukraine as the commander, supported by former special forces personnel belonging to the CIA’s paramilitary “Special Activities Center. The basic model is that British MI6 and U.S. and British special forces cooperate with them. For highly covert missions, the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command will be deployed, while the British Army’s SAS and the Marine Corps’ SBS (Special Boat Service) will be deployed.
The SAS is often deployed for special missions in combat zones in the U.S. and Britain, and has been deployed for unofficial special operations in joint U.S.-British operations such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War.
Espionage Base of Operations
Since this operation is inside Ukraine, the U.S. European Command Special Operations Command (Stuttgart, Germany) will be the headquarters for such special operations. However, at this time, the main support to Ukraine is in the area of intelligence, so it is assumed that the U.S. European Command’s European Integrated Information Operations Center Analysis Center (Molesworth Royal Air Force Base, England) will play a major role.
The center fuses information from various U.S. military sensors, including reconnaissance satellites, surveillance aircraft, early warning and control aircraft, ground radar, and intercepted communications information, to conduct detailed real-time analysis of Russian military movements. The center is operated by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), an intelligence agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, and it is highly likely that liaison officers from the DIA or related U.S. military intelligence units are dispatched to Ukrainian military headquarters in order to convey their specialized military information to the Ukrainian military. There is also an intelligence division within the DIA, the Defense Clandestine Activities Division, which conducts its own espionage activities against Russia.
The CIA, on the other hand, originally had its front headquarters at the Ukrainian branch of the CIA in the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, but there are a number of undisclosed secret bases in Ukraine, and one of them must be the current base of operations.
This behind-the-scenes U.S. and British support for the Ukrainian government has actually been ongoing since the invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. Intelligence agencies have cooperated with Ukraine’s intelligence agencies, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Foreign Intelligence Service (SZR), and the Defense Intelligence Service (GUR), and special forces have provided training and guidance to the Ukrainian military. This has been greatly strengthened in response to the deployment of Russian troops to the Ukrainian border in 2021.
Since a considerable amount of time has passed in the meantime, it is assumed that various simulations have already been conducted in detail and plans have been carefully formulated. Although the U.S. and U.K. are working together on the ground in Ukraine, there should be considerable intelligence from other NATO countries, especially from NATO’s early warning and control aircraft unit in Germany.
This kind of “power” is also at work behind Ukraine’s “better-than-expected” performance. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.
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