FROM RT - DISCUSSION OF NATO TRAINERS OR TROOPS IN THE UKRAINE, QUOTW VICTORIA NULAND

 Nuland comments on potential official NATO deployment to Ukraine

The presence of Western instructors would “directly implicate” the US-led bloc, the former official has said

FILE PHOTO ©  Danil Shamkin / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Former US diplomat Victoria Nuland has argued that officially sending Western instructors into Ukraine would create unnecessary risks – as NATO already provides a “huge amount” of training for Kiev’s forces on member states' territory.

Facing a severe troop shortage, Kiev has allegedly asked the US and NATO to help train some 150,000 new recruits inside Ukraine, so they can be sent to the front faster, the New York Times reported last week.

In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Nuland – who was responsible for Ukraine in her State Department role and served as US ambassador to NATO – acknowledged Russia’s renewed offensive is making it hard for Ukrainian troops to “come off the front” and train abroad. However, she warned against sending Western instructors in.

“I worry that NATO training bases inside Ukraine will become a target for Vladimir Putin. And it does directly implicate NATO on the ground, which could… escalate the war in a different direction and cause Putin to think that NATO territory might be fair game for him,” Nuland said.

READ MORE: NATO members ‘considering’ sending troops to Ukraine – NYT

The White House has repeatedly insisted that it will not deploy American troops – even instructors – in Ukraine. The retired US diplomat argued that “it still makes most sense to do most of the training outside of Ukraine but to give advice inside Ukraine.”

The US-led military bloc has been training Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of member states including the UK, Germany and Poland, teaching them how to use Western-provided weapons. European officials have previously acknowledged the presence of some military personnel in Ukraine since the outbreak of the conflict in 2022, without clarifying whether they were training local forces.

However, on Monday Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas claimed that military personnel from some NATO member states are already training Ukrainian soldiers inside the country. She insisted this will not lead to a direct confrontation with Russia because the personnel are doing it “at their own risk.”

READ MORE: NATO countries already training troops in Ukraine – Estonian PM

French President Emmanuel Macron first raised the issue of sending NATO troops to Ukraine back in February, calling it an idea that should not be ruled out. Estonia and Lithuania have since expressed support for either sending instructors or support troops, to free up Ukrainian soldiers for combat duty. 

In early May, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that Ukrainian military losses had surpassed 111,000 this year alone. Kiev now intends to mobilize hundreds of thousands of additional troops under a new law cracking down on draft avoidance.

Over the past six weeks, Russian forces have taken more territory than Ukraine managed to capture in the six months of its failed counter-offensive last year, the Washington Post admitted last week, citing numbers from the Institute for the Study of War, a DC-based think tank run by Kimberly Kagan – Victoria Nuland’s sister-in-law.

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This part is not from RT. Victoria Nuland was not merely a high-ranking American government official and diplomat, she was sometimes referred to as the "Queen of the Color Revolutions." In 2014 the duly elected president of Ukraine was deposed by a color revoluton. He had been generally sympathetic to Russia, and indeed, the Donbass areas were more Russian than Ukrainian. Nuland's husband, Robert Kagan has a new book out in 2024 in which he views the Trump voters (and Trump) as threats to democracy in America. Yet, as Elon Musk just pointed out, it is President Aelensky of the Ukraine who has cancelled presidential elections in his nation that were scheduled for this year. Zelensky has had political opponents arrested, and critical media squelched. But American Pres. Biden and Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives assure us we are spending billions in Ukraine to defend democracy. I forget whether the Speaker is Mike Johnson or Hakeem Johnson. Hugh Murray