DISINFO: NATO troops fight in Russia’s Kursk Region and do not take prisoners
SUMMARY
NATO troops, including Americans and Poles, were the first to enter Russia’s Kursk Region. They were fighting there. The Ukrainians arrived later. NATO forces were not taking prisoners.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that NATO countries are involved in hostilities between Ukraine and Russia, in particular during Ukraine’s advance into Russia’s Kursk region which began on 6 August 2024. This claim was made in the broader context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
NATO troops are not fighting in Ukraine. The Alliance has repeatedly stated that it is not a warring party and that it does not have troops on the ground in Ukraine. NATO officials have frequent contacts with their Ukrainian counterparts and the Alliance provides training and intelligence to Ukraine, but its troops have not been officially deployed on the frontline either in Ukraine or in Russia’s Kursk Region.
There are foreign volunteers who fight in the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine, some of whom are from NATO member states. These volunteers have joined the legion independently and are not part of an official NATO military mission.
Over 50 countries, some of which are NATO member states, provide military and financial support to Ukraine in order to help it repel Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression, restore its sovereignty over all of its occupied territories and return to its internationally recognised borders of 1991.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that French troops are directly involved in Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, that French soldiers hanged 8 children in Kursk region, and that Ukraine builds concentration camps in Kursk.