In the early days of the Ukraine war last year, President Joe Biden promised not to put U.S. troops on the ground because doing so could spark a “world war.”
However, leaked classified war documents show that the U.S. and NATO are apparently doing just that.
The documents, which are on Twitter and Telegram, state that the U.S. has at least 14 special forces personnel in Ukraine, the U.K. has at least 50, while France, Latvia and the Netherlands also have troops there. The total number of U.S. personnel in Ukraine is 100, according to the documents.
The accuracy of the documents has not been fully confirmed. In an article Thursday, the New York Times reported that the documents are at least particularly authentic, but that they may have been altered by Russia.
“Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed,” the Times reported. “The modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow.”
However, independent journalist Michael Tracey noted that Biden White House officials have not disputed the records’ claim that U.S. troops are on the ground in Ukraine.
