By Bond Robertson 
One big question gets closer and closer as the war in Ukraine claims new casualties, and Russian forces put the Ukrainians on the more defensive:
What do the United States, NATO, and the West risk by entering Ukraine with ground forces?
Currently, French President Emmanuel Macron remains alone in proposing the idea of sending NATO forces to Ukrainian territory. This proposal was met with coldness by NATO allies. Meanwhile, Russia rattled its nuclear weapons and threatened to expand the war to other countries in Europe as a possible counter-move.
Soldiers can be released to the front
Alexander Crowther has a long career behind him in the US Army and is considered an expert in digital military operations, and also has NATO and Europe as special areas. (U.S. military)
Now Macron is getting support from unexpected quarters. Retired American Colonel Alexander Crowther believes that the time has come to issue orders to Western forces to enter Ukraine.
– For every soldier or civilian sent there, there is a Ukrainian who can be sent to the front, right? Then there is the question of the existential logic of war.
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So says the former Special Advisor to the US Supreme Allied Commander Europe in an interview with Radio Free Europe.
Alexander Crowther has had a long career in the US Army and is considered an expert in digital military operations. He also has NATO and Europe as special areas, and has extensive international experience.
Warns of the consequences of Ukrainian defeat
Today he is associated with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, as a research professor at the Institute for Strategic Studies. He is a professor of cyber warfare at Florida International University, and works for periods as a researcher at the Swedish Defense University.
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Crowther believes that the United States and Europe should be more involved and play a more offensive role in the bloody war between two of the largest countries in Europe. The American colonel warns that defeating Ukraine could have very serious implications for Europe.
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– Ukrainian soldiers are running out of soldiers, just as we did in 1944
– I think the matter is under discussion in Europe, and I think we have to take it seriously. The number of Ukrainian soldiers is running out, just as it did in 1944, when we were in Europe. Then we took the cooks and gave them rifles and said: “Now you are an infantryman.” Ukraine has also reached the point where they have to do this, Crowther told the radio station.
However, he is clear about where Allied forces should be deployed, and that it should not happen on the front. Instead, he suggests placing soldiers in the back lines to relieve the Ukrainian army. In this way, the allied forces could assume support missions a good distance from the front, thus avoiding direct confrontation with Russian forces.
Mocking the Russians: “How many drones does it take to blow up an armored car?”
– You must be very clear to Putin
Frankly, if I send someone to Ukraine, I will make sure they stay west of the Dnieper River, because the Ukrainians control everything west of it. This will make it clear to the Russians that we will not move east of the Dnieper. You have to be very clear with Putin and say: “We are sending people to Ukraine, and they will not launch an attack against you,” notes Alexander Crowther.
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When asked if he thought American soldiers should also be sent to Ukraine, he replied:
– I have no problem recommending that the American administration send logistical, maintenance, and technical personnel to western Ukraine, and keep them west of the Dnieper River. I'm not in favor of sending any combat troops at all, because once NATO, EU or US soldiers kill Russians, it really escalates, Crowther warns.
– Putin does not want to go down in history as a bad tsar
Russian President Vladimir Putin Photograph: Gavriel Grigorov/AFP
Finally, the retired colonel was asked to evaluate Putin's rationality.
-Putin is rational. Putin is a man of hard power, and it's all about hard power. It's about money for him and money for the network of former and current state security officers with personal ties to the Soviet-era KGB, the FSB and the oligarchs who run the country on his behalf. Putin does not want history to remember him as a bad tsar. He will go down in history as a good Caesar. He will remain only in the Kremlin. He dug in the Kremlin for the rest of his life. Alexander Crowther concludes that everything he does is aimed at prolonging his stay in the Kremlin.