Report: CIA on the ground in Ukraine to coordinate intelligence efforts

President Joe Biden has said the White House will not deploy U.S. troops to Ukraine, but there may be intelligence assets and agents providing support.

The CIA is one of several foreign agencies quietly providing weapons, intelligence and training to the Ukrainian resistance, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The agency has reportedly a key part of intelligence sharing operations between Washington and Kyiv.  The intelligence agents operate mostly in Kyiv, orchestrating the transfer of massive amounts of U.S. intelligence with Ukrainian forces, according to officials who spoke with The New York Times.

Meanwhile, commandos with other NATO countries, including the U.K., France, Canada and Lithuania, have also continued to work on the ground in Ukraine. The foreign soldiers provide training and military advice to troops and help direct weapons and other aid sent by Western powers.

The U.S. Army’s Special Forces, better known as the Green Berets, had stepped in to train the Ukrainian military after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Part of their job was to prepare their Ukrainian counterparts on how to wage guerilla warfare against an invading force with local militia units.

But the Green Beret trainers were ordered out of the country in mid-February as the threat of Russian invasion grew.

The report hints at the scale of the secretive effort to assist Ukraine – as well as the risk that Washington and its allies are taking.

Biden had long held out on sending advanced missile systems that could reach into Russian territory over fears the U.S. could be pulled into the Ukraine war if they are used beyond the invaders’ front lines.

Ukrainian forces are slowly being driven out of its eastern territories as advancing Russian forces siege and capture major cities.