Canada, UK, France, Germany, US have mercenaries fighting in Ukraine

A Responsible Statecraft report shed light on a revelation made by Global Affairs Canada this week that a Canadian had died in Ukraine, who was later announced to be Jean-Francois Ratelle, a commander of the Norman Brigade, a fighting force of volunteers from several different countries commanded by a CAF veteran who goes by “Hrulf”, according to CTV News. 

The Canadian government says it does not trace how many Canadian citizens are fighting in Ukraine. However, in January 2023, the Ukrainian Foreign Legion stated that Canadians were “one of the most numerous nationalities” fighting in Ukraine.

CTV News reported that it was able to trace “at least 18 Canadians who are or were, in Ukraine as fighters or as part of humanitarian efforts.”

Two Canadians serving with Ukraine’s International Legion, which was attached to the 92nd Mechanised Brigade, died in Bakhmut on May 1, 2023. Before being deployed in Ukraine, both of these mercenaries had served in the Canadian Armed Forces. At the time, CBC News announced that they were the fourth and fifth Canadians to die fighting in Ukraine. The Globe and Mail, by November, revealed that nine Canadians died in Ukraine.

One of the Canadians who died was “fighting alongside two US citizens who also died while fighting in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.”

On March 8, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that “NATO soldiers are already present in Ukraine,” but he did not agree to “list those countries,” hence confirming a list. 

Russia: 13,000 foreigners in Ukraine

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on March 14, during an update on the number of foreign mercenaries, that 1,005 Canadian mercenaries have been deployed to Ukraine to fight. It added that at least 491 of them, nearly half, have died.

According to the update, 2,960 mercenaries were from Poland with 1,497 of them reportedly dead. The US comes in second with at least 491 of its 1,113 mercenaries dead.

It added that mercenary fighters have come from NATO members Romania and the UK, with France being the source of fewer militants, as 147 French nationals have died out of 356 who have been deployed.

In total Russia revealed that 13,000 foreigners have fought for Kiev and around 6,000 have died. The Ukrainians also say their international legion is constituted of around 20,000 fighters from 50 countries. 

Not only American troops but also the CIA 

According to US Defense Department documents leaked in March 2023, there were at that time at least 97 NATO special forces in Ukraine, 50 British, 17 Latvian, 15 French, 14 American, and 1 Dutch. Back then, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby refused to verify the number but validated “a small US military presence” there.

A recent The New York Times report based on interviews with more than 200 current and former officials showed that there were “scores”, at least more than 40, of CIA officers in Ukraine.

In a transcript of a February 19 conversation between senior German Air Force officials, one official stated, “It’s known that there are numerous people there in civilian attire who speak with an American accent.”

It further exposed that there are UK personnel on the ground. One official, amid discussions on how German Taurus long-range missiles could function in Ukraine, revealed that the Germans “know how the English do it. . .. They have several people on-site.”

The British prime minister’s office has verified that the UK has soldiers on the ground saying “Beyond the small number of personnel we do have in the country supporting the armed forces of Ukraine, we haven’t got any plans for large-scale deployment.”

Some German and French 

On February 26, backing up his decision not to provide Taurus missiles to Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that it would need the presence of Germans in Ukraine to match their British and French counterparts as he elaborated that “What is being done in the way of target control and accompanying target control on the part of the British and the French can’t be done in Germany.”