News - Middle East: A British media report says a senior European defense official has acknowledged that “Western special forces” are unofficially present in Ukraine, despite US-led NATO’s claims of having no such plans to put combat troops on the ground.

“Everyone knows there are Western special forces in Ukraine, they’ve just not acknowledged it officially,” the senior European official, whose name was not mentioned, told the Financial Times.
This came in response to Monday remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron who did not rule out dispatch of Western ground troops to Ukraine.  
Macron had told reporters at a news conference that while he and the other European leaders did not agree on sending military personnel to Ukraine, “Nothing should be ruled out.”
“We will do anything we can to prevent Russia from winning this war,” Macron asserted.
His remarks, which triggered a continental uproar, came amid Russia’s insistence on the involvement of "foreign mercenaries" participating in the conflict in Ukraine.
In a recent statement, Russia's defense ministry disclosed that more than 60 foreign combatants were eliminated in a missile attack last month, with the majority reportedly being fluent in French, according to local reports.
The revelation comes as a contradiction to a Tuesday announcement by NATO’s top brass who said there are no plans to send troops to Ukraine as well as remarks by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who denied that countries of the Western military alliance were considering the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Schultz announced Tuesday that neither NATO alliance members nor European Union countries will send their ground forces to Ukraine.