Arya News - NATO personnel operating Western military hardware in the Ukrainian conflict zone has long been an open secret, Russian military analyst Viktor Litovkin tells Sputnik.
Ukraine, Litovkin explains, ended up relying on foreign personnel because it:How Does This Personnel Pipeline Work?Western military specialists operating in Ukraine are not officially regarded as members of their respective home countries’ armed forces, masquerading instead as volunteers who chose on their own to “defend democracy.”“It’s a tried and tested scenario: a career military man goes on a fake leave and heads off to a warzone, to be reinstated upon his return home,” says Litovkin.Western powers’ claims of alleged non-involvement in the Ukrainian conflict are the epitome of hypocrisy, he notes.Second-hand War GearNATO countries deliberately provide Ukraine with second-rate, older war gear due to concerns that any advanced military hardware supplied to the Ukrainian forces would be inevitably captured by Russian forces, Litovkin points out.As a result, Western personnel end up operating outdated military hardware while facing much more advanced Russian combat aircraft and weapon systems that make short work of them.