American spies and special forces operatives are in Ukraine helping its military in the conflict with Russia, according to one US fighter who thought he was speaking with former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko. Instead, he was speaking with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interviews with \u201csoldiers of misfortune\u201d were posted on Wednesday as part of the latest episode of the notorious duo\u2019s RuTube show. Jason Freeman, who is married to a Ukrainian in Nikolaev, was the first they tried to recruit into \u201cPoroshenko\u2019s\u201d new mercenary outfit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Freeman boasted that he killed 21 Russian soldiers and hit 13 more, but admitted that his entire unit was destroyed in the battle of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut). He also complained about problems with getting paid and criticized the Ukrainian Armed Forces command as incompetent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYoung Ukrainians are dying because of bad orders or tactics. Most of those here are actually fresh meat,\u201d Freeman said, according to a translation of his remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Freeman, CIA and US special forces operatives are in Ukraine even now, advising the Ukrainian armed forces on the frontlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New York Times revealed<\/a> the CIA\u2019s presence in Ukraine on Sunday, noting that the US spy agency has been setting up operations in the country since the 2014 coup in Kiev and is currently operating a dozen bases along the Russian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second mercenary who spoke to \u201cPoroshenko\u201d was identified as Joshua Randsford, who said he wasn\u2019t interested in Ukrainian politics, only \u201cfighting against Russia.\u201d Randsford said he had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and that the current conflict seemed worse, due to the Ukrainians\u2019 \u201clack of professionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morale is low both in the military and among the special forces operated by the GUR intelligence, he claimed. Randsford spoke from Poland, where he is attending a sniper course, but said he was looking forward to returning to fighting as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Americans also complained that Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive last summer had been \u201ca waste of lives\u201d and seemed resigned to Kiev\u2019s forces taking even more casualties as the fighting went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last July, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that around 11,000 foreign fighters flocked to Ukraine at the start of the conflict. About 5,000 had left the country while others became casualties, leaving only around 2,000 on the battlefield, Moscow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Vovan and Lexus \u2013 Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov \u2013 that number might be as high as 20,000, however. AP recently reported<\/a> that Kiev was offering $3,300 a month to former Colombian soldiers, luring them away from mercenary work in Yemen or the drug cartels. One Ukrainian officer has told CNN<\/a> that a lot of the foreigners who come to Ukraine with romantic notions flee after experiencing the reality of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n