The leak of intelligence information from the Pentagon, which the media reported this week, could provide Russian intelligence with important and dangerous information for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In this respect writer The edition of The War Zone references a retired American officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Assuming the documents are authentic, this information will give Russian intelligence analysts an important insight into Ukraine’s future plans,” the official said.
According to him, the greatest danger comes from a document marked “Top Secret” showing the status of Russian and Ukrainian troops on March 1. From this, Moscow not only learns how Kiev has deployed its troops in recent months, but also sees the absence of certain troops in the order. This will make it clear what forces and means Ukraine has in reserve for the upcoming counteroffensive.
The interlocutor of the publication noted that the documents found on the Internet look quite reliable. “This is not good. If the leak is real, this information is holy to the holy ones,” he said.
The US official also clarified that the main issue was the source of the leak. “If it’s from the Pentagon, then the question arises: who has access to these documents?” – said.
The New York Times was the first to report the leak on Thursday, April 6. According to the newspaper, the Pentagon launched an internal investigation due to the publication of documents on the status of Ukrainian military brigades on the global network.
War Zone learned that documents classified as original appeared in anonymous Discord chats in March. And they hit the Twitter and Telegram channels in early April. At the same time, some documents from the original source were clearly edited when they got into the social network and messenger. In particular, we are talking about information on combat losses of the Russian army during special operations.
Arik Toler of British investigative publication Bellingcat (the publication is recognized as a foreign media agent in Russia and is included in the list of undesirables) said the information published is part of an archive of more than a hundred Pentagon documents. It has different statuses from “top secret” to “for official use” and concerns not only the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but also China and ISIS (the organization is banned in Russia).
Some of the information on the special operation includes US intelligence reports on the deployment of Ukrainian and Russian troops, the expected supply of Western tanks and other armored vehicles, the losses of the parties, the number of the US military and its allies in Ukraine. According to Ukraine, the US spends ammunition on aircraft and submarines in the region.
Presumably, the documents were addressed to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is known that some of it was transferred to Ukraine and NATO members, as well as to Finland, which at that time had not yet joined the North Atlantic Alliance. Additionally, some documents were transferred to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (which includes Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand along with the US).
As Politico correspondent Lara Seligman wrote, although some of the files have been significantly reorganized, a senior US official confirmed to him the authenticity of the leak from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Reuters reported that Russia and pro-Russian elements were most likely behind the leak, citing three US officials.
A former high-ranking US military official told The War Zone that there are many possible causes for the leak: deliberate transmission of confidential data, accidental loss or even theft. But after its release, another problem arose – trust.
Can the Allies trust the United States? Can Ukrainians trust the US to keep confidential information? “I think Ukrainians are surprised that this has been made public,” he said.
Another former US intelligence official said that the documents entering the network were not like old Pentagon files that had been photocopied multiple times. And he added that any information now has a cyber monitoring that allows you to trace the source of the data and the location of its leaks.
On April 6, the White House confirmed that they were aware of the classified documents posted on social networks. And now the Pentagon is examining this information. Parallel to the Department of Defense, the US Department of Justice launched its own investigation.
The Kremlin also said it was aware of the leak. “We have no doubts that the United States and NATO are directly or indirectly involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine, also described the leaked documents as fake and photoshop. “Moscow is trying to foil Ukraine’s counterattack, but will see the real plans on the ground,” he wrote on Twitter.
However, on April 7, Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, where he discussed the plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, issues of preventing leaks.
At the same time, British Army Colonel Philip Ingram did not rule out that the leaking of classified information could be a planned disinformation operation, as the documents contain the dates of the alleged attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is “extremely unusual. ”
American businessman and Twitter owner Elon Musk said the Pentagon is trying to force the social network to remove sensitive data. “Yes, you can completely delete things from the internet – that works great and doesn’t draw attention to what you’re trying to hide,” Musk wrote.