Leaked documents showed that the United Kingdom is among the top Western countries operating in Ukraine with its special forces on the ground.
According to dozens of top-secret documents leaked online, the UK has 50 contingents of special forces in Ukraine followed by Latvia which has 17, France has 15, the United States has 14 and the Netherlands has one operating in the country.
The documents did not say where the forces were located or what they were doing.
The number of special forces may be small but the nature of their job is highly sensitive and effective. Their presence in Ukraine was likely to be seized upon by Russia, which has in the past argued that it was not just confronting Ukraine but the whole NATO countries.
In line with its typical policy on such matters, the UK’s Ministry of Defence did not comment on the issue, but in a tweet, on Tuesday it said that the leak of alleged classified information had demonstrated a “serious level of inaccuracy”.
The UK defence ministry said readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that could potentially spread disinformation.
The defence ministry did not elaborate on which documents it was taking. However, Pentagon officials were quoted as saying that the documents were real.
UK special forces comprised several elite military units with distinct areas of expertise and were regarded to be among the most trained and capable in the world.
Unlike other countries, including the US, the British government does not comment on its special forces.
The UK had been vociferous in its support of Ukraine and was the second largest contributor after the US of military aid to Kyiv.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US Department of Justice had opened a criminal probe, and he was determined to find the source of the leak.
“We will continue to probe and turn over every rock until we find the source of this leak and the extent of it,” he said.
