Citing an anonymous senior European defense official, the Financial Times reported that it is widely known that Western special forces are present in Ukraine - yet unofficially.

The FT's report comes in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent suggestion of potential upcoming NATO deployments in Ukraine, in which he told the media in Paris that there was “no consensus [at the European leaders' meeting] to send, in an official manner, troops on the ground, but in terms of dynamics, we cannot exclude anything.”

During his comments, he vowed to do everything to prevent Russia from winning the war.

Macron said he could not rule out deploying soldiers to Ukraine, even though Western leaders were unable to achieve an agreement on the issue during a Paris-hosted Ukraine meeting. 

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Macron's suggestion to immediately intervene in the Ukrainian war had no support among the leaders and that Germany would not consider such an action.

The anonymous senior European defense official revealed to the FT that Macron’s remarks were an attempt to pressure Russia, since “everyone knows there are Western special forces in Ukraine – they’ve just not acknowledged it officially.”

It is worth noting that Russia has repeatedly reported strikes against “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. Russia’s Defense Ministry announced last month the killing of over 60 foreign fighters in a missile strike, of which the majority were French speakers, according to local sources.

Read next: UN takes aim at Macron's remarks of sending troops to Ukraine amid war

The head of the local Ukrainian administration confirmed that two of the dead and three of the wounded were French “volunteers".

Can't deny or confirm

Even though the French Defense Minister has confirmed that some of those fighting on the front lines in Ukraine were French “volunteers”, France has repeatedly denied deploying any of its soldiers in Ukraine.

A set of classified Pentagon documents leaked last year proved that British, French, and American special force operatives were active in the conflict zone, and while the US did not confirm or deny this, an investigation was launched and stated it would review who would have access to this type of information. 

A few days ago, in light of Macron's comments, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson revealed in a statement that "President Biden has been clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine."

Watson added that the US president believes the "path to victory" is the passing of blocked military aid to Ukraine.

Other nations, like the UK, acknowledged having forces in the region. At the end of 2022, a British military publication admitted that over 300 Royal Marines were partaking in “discreet operations in a hugely sensitive environment and with a high level of political and military risk” in Ukraine.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared that as of December, more than 5,800 foreign mercenaries were killed in the war since February 2022, with the most coming from Poland, the US, and the UK.

Read next: Two years into Ukraine war, West fails to contain Russia: NYT

Meanwhile, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has already warned that the official act of deploying NATO troops to fight in Ukraine would make a direct conflict between NATO and Moscow “inevitable”.