While Paris continues to flirt with the possibility of a troop deployment in Ukraine, recent reports that French Foreign Legion soldiers have already arrived on the battlefield may not be what they seem.
The claims appear to have originated with a Russian war blogger known as ‘Military Chronicle,’ who runs a popular Telegram channel and is active elsewhere on social media. In an April 12 post on VK, the channel alleged that the “first units of the French Foreign Legion” had been stationed in the city of Slavyansk, but cited no sources to support the assertion.
The post went on to claim that the first batch of 100 French troops would be sourced from the Foreign Legion’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, and serve alongside fighters with Ukraine’s 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade.
Though Military Chronicle reportedly published the same information on Telegram – as noted by Sputnik – the post no longer appears on the channel.
More recent reports have echoed identical details regarding an alleged deployment of 100 Foreign Legion troops to Slavyansk, but also reference no sources.
Despite the lack of credible sourcing for this particular claim, French officials have insisted such a decision should not be ruled out, with President Emmanuel Macron again raising the issue just earlier this week.
“If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question” of whether to send troops, he told the Economist in an interview published on Thursday.
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
“They came. They saw. They died.” – Courtesy of Hillary Clinton. So will any other NATO troops sent – including US troops because everyone knows Biden won’t keep his promise of “no boots on the ground.”
Probably the number of foreign mercenaries and instructors in Ukraine at the moment is about 10 000. For preventing the collapse of Ukrainian army before American November elections, they need both: more foreign mercenaries and more fresh Ukrainian troops. It looks, about 100K foreign mercenaries + 200K fresh Ukrainians should be enough. And of course, they need also more weapons and munitions.
If they will find, train and send to the battlefield only Ukrainians, there is a great risk that Ukrainian army collapses anyway because the morale of Ukrainian army is low and getting lower. Fresh NATO troops should improve the morale.
May 5, 2024 Macron unlikely to sway Xi to influence Russia over Ukraine war, expert says
French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to urge China’s President Xi Jinping, who arrives in Paris on Sunday for a rare visit, to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine. Some experts, however, said the meeting is unlikely to yield results. “I do not believe Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe this time could receive any kind of influence from France,” said Kuo Yujen, professor at the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies in Taiwan.
https://youtu.be/ODFt3QTVAXQ?si=Tj2wIkSlui76w2Cv