In comments today in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin was harshly critical of the Ukrainian Army, saying it wasn’t a real army protecting the national interests of Ukraine, but little more than a NATO foreign legion.
Putin noted that the fighters against eastern rebels were only partially official Ukraine Army to begin with, backed by “volunteer nationalist battalions.”
NATO insisted the statement was nonsense and that there is “no NATO legion.” They went on to accuse Russia of having troops in eastern Ukraine to back the rebels.
NATO’s response appeared to falsely support Russia accused them of having literal troops of their own in Ukraine, as opposed to using Ukraine as a proxy fighter.
Of course, NATO will have literal troops in Ukraine soon enough, with the US making much of plans to send ground troops to Lviv on a training mission in the next few months.
