Here, I’ll break it down for your lib brain hopped up on western propaganda. These are French special forces just like US special forces have “served” in Ukraine. They are essentially spies trying to assist Ukraine, operating under the presumption that if they are captured they deny any official involvement with the French government. The Russians know this, the Ukrainians know this, the NATO allied western forces know this, especially the US because NATO is the US. Russia is calling it out because it’s an obvious provocation to war. It’s just you that aren’t clued in, and the state department’s talking points are that they aren’t part of an official operation because, gasp!, that would mean we are at war with Russia. Nah, it’s still just another proxy war, one of many in a long line dating back to immediately after WWII.

I doubt it will lead to another WWIII, but Russia is going to use it for their propaganda because it also happens to be true. Wait, you do realize that all governments and media do propaganda all the time, right?