French units are already in Ukraine, Russian deputy says

 French military units are in the Kupiansk front and in the Zaporozhye area, declared the deputy of the Russian State Duma, Viktor Vodolatski.

The official, who is also coordinator of interparliamentary relations with the Parliament of the People’s Republic of Lugansk, stated this Wednesday in an interview for the Sputnik news agency that German, Polish, Bulgarian and Czech units are present on the ground alongside the French personnel.

The deputy added that the majority of these groups are on the second echelon, but some snipers and instructors appear on the line of contact and are periodically annihilated by Russian troops.

On Tuesday, the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Narishkin, declared that France is preparing a military contingent to send to Ukraine consisting of about two thousand troops in the first stage.

Narishkin assured that the French contingent would be a “legitimate priority target” for Russian forces.

On the other hand, the French Ministry of Defense denied information about the presence of its military in Ukraine and any plans to send an additional contingent.

Late in February, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he had debated with the leaders of some member countries of NATO, including Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom, sending soldiers to Ukraine, but they failed to achieve a consensus.

Several member states of the Alliance, including Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, Spain, the United States, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic and others, took distance from Macron’s call and refused to send their soldiers.