NATO member Denmark has announced it will send soldiers to Ukraine. Despite the nonviolent nature of their deployment, Russia has indicated that they will still be “legitimate targets.”
They won’t be armed and they won’t take part in any fighting, but instead are being deployed as observers to study real-world tactics, notably in drone warfare.
Danish Army Chief and Major General Peter Boysen told Denmark’s TV 2 news that the soldiers’ goal is to learn from Ukraine’s more than three years of drone operations. The number of Danish personnel who will be sent as unarmed observers hasn’t been finalized, but the first troops could begin this summer.
“We’re sending some teams down to see what experiences the Ukrainians have had—first-hand,” Boysen explained, but added, “They are not going there to participate in the war actively.”
Instead, this is meant to be an opportunity for the NATO nations to learn drone tactics from soldiers who have been its pioneers.
Boysen suggested, “We can learn a lot from the combat experience they have gained in Ukraine. We are relying on their experience to become better in combat.”
NATO Troops Will Be Far from the Front
Though the personnel will be stationed in Western Ukraine, far from the frontlines, Russia has indicated that they will still be “legitimate targets.”
Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Bardin also told TV 2 that the deployment was seen by Moscow as a provocation and warned it could “drag Denmark deeper and deeper into the conflict,” while stressing that Ukrainian military facilities “including headquarters, training and education centers, as well as locations of military personnel and military equipment, both deep inside Ukrainian territory and on the front line, are a legitimate target.”
Boysen acknowledged the threat that the Danish personnel could face.
“They will be trained far from the front line, for example, in Lviv in Ukraine’s west. And if there is a missile attack, the Ukrainians have outstanding warning systems and good shelters. I spent time in one of them in Kyiv,” Boysen noted.
This Is a Learning Experience for the NATO Troops
This will be far from the first time a neutral nation has sent unarmed observers to study tactics on a modern battlefield. Multiple European nations sent military officers to examine the tactics and deployments during the American Civil War.
These famously included Captain Justus Scheibert of the Prussian Army, who was sent to study the latest weapons and tactics. Over seven months traveling in the Confederate States, he observed the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and later the Siege of Charleston Harbor.
He paid special attention to the development of rifled cannons and the impact of ordnance fired from the guns on defensive positions. Scheibert’s observations were published and closely studied by military leaders in Prussia and later in the unified Germany.
Colonel Arthur James Lyon Fremantle of the British Army also traveled to America during the Civil War, officially as a tourist, even though his daily attire initially consisted of a British military uniform!
He was among the foreign observers at the Battle of Gettysburg, although, despite what the 1993 film suggests, he didn’t wear his uniform and instead sought to blend in. Following his return to the UK, Fremantle wrote of his time in the Confederate States, but unlike Scheibert, his findings weren’t as widely studied by the military.
Yet, military attachés and observers were later sent to report to their governments on findings from the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the Russo-Japanese War.
The role of observers changed during the Cold War. In 1948, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) was tasked with monitoring the armistice between Israel and its Arab neighbors rather than studying tactics.
Foreign observers were also present in Vietnam, but the line between “observing” and “advising” blurred increasingly. For now, Denmark will ensure its troops simply observe and learn.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
Image: Shutterstock/ Anna50.
