The CIA and NATO’s ‘Stealth Network’ in Ukraine: American Boots on the Ground Coordinating a Proxy War Against Russia

Military Watch:

The CIA and NATO’s ‘Stealth Network’ in Ukraine: American Boots on the Ground Coordinating a Proxy War Against Russia

June-28th-2022

American Special Forces


Since the outbreak of war between Russian and Ukraine on February 24 the provision of tens of billions of dollars worth of material support to Kiev by NATO member states has been well documented, and has played an important role in slowing although not halting Russian advances. What has been less well publicised, however, has been the the role of American and other NATO boots on the ground supporting the Ukrainian government’s war effort, including not only volunteers and various military contractors but also personnel from intelligence agencies and from the United States Military itself.

A rare insight into these operations was provided by the New York Times, which referred to the U.S. as setting up within Ukraine’s borders “a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training... C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kiev, directing much of the massive amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces.”

Ukrainian Serviceman with American Javelin Anti-Tank Missile


While CIA and Pentagon personnel have reportedly not been deployed for combat roles, they have advised frontline units from headquarters in other parts of Ukraine.

The “signs of their stealthy logistics, training and intelligence support are tangible on the battlefield,” the Times observed. “Commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine... training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid,” it added, emphasising the sheer “scale of the secretive effort to assist Ukraine that is underway.”

Provision of personnel and material support was supplemented by access to tremendous quantities of intelligence, with Ukraine officers provided with tablet computers running battlefield mapping applications to target and attack Russian units and providing access to satellite imagery from the U.S. Military’s array of surveillance assets.

Ukrainian Forces on Parade


The extent of Western material support was perhaps best symbolised by Ukrainian special forces operating in the contested Donbas regions, which the Times highlighted had

American flag patches on their equipment and carried new Western-supplied portable surface to air missiles and both Belgian and American assault rifles.

Efforts on the ground in Ukraine were supplemented by considerable support provided to Ukrainian personnel in NATO member states themselves, an example being training for Ukrainian commandos in Germany provided by the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group. At Ramstein Air Base in Germany, U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard personnel simultaneously trained the Ukrainian Air Force. 

The extent of the involvement by NATO member states has left little doubt that war is being waged against Russia by proxy, mirroring the prior proxy war waged against Moscow and its allies in Syria in the 2010s which similarly saw Western special forces embedded in units armed, trained and given intelligence by NATO member states. 

While Ukraine was formerly part of the Soviet Union, and until 2014 was aligned more closely with Russia than the Western Bloc, the overthrow of the Ukrainian government in 2014 with Western support and installation of a pro-Western government in Kiev paved the way for efforts to turn and empower the smaller Soviet successor state against the larger one.

The result has been a war fought entirely on the territory of the former USSR, and largely with Soviet weapons on both sides, which has provided an effective means for NATO members to erode Russian power at a relatively low cost to the alliance.