NYT: The Pentagon is investigating the leak of secret documents on the state of the Armed Forces in the social networkThe Pentagon is investigating the appearance in social networks of secret documents that contain information about the state of the Ukrainian army and outline the plans of the United States and NATO to strengthen the Armed Forces, writes NYT.
Washington failed to delete this data.
Helena Cooper
Eric SchmittWashington – Secret documents were posted on social media this week outlining U.S. and NATO plans to strengthen the Ukrainian army ahead of a planned offensive against Russian positions.
This was reported by senior officials from the Biden administration.
The Pentagon is trying to find out who is behind the leak of documents on Twitter and Telegram. The second platform has over half a billion users, and it is available in Russia.
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The networks have published original documents in the form of pictures of schedules for the supply of weapons, battalion lists of the number of personnel and various plans. This fact shows how serious the leak of information about assistance to Ukraine was.
The Biden administration tried to delete the information posted on social networks, but as of Thursday evening it failed to do so.
"We are aware of the publications on social networks. The Ministry is conducting an investigation into this matter," said Sabrina Singh, deputy spokeswoman for the Pentagon.
Among these documents, there are no specific combat plans with information on how, when and where Ukraine intends to launch an offensive, which, according to American representatives, is expected next month or a little later. We are talking about documents from five weeks ago. They give an idea of what, in the opinion of Americans and Ukrainians, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need to conduct an offensive campaign. But to an experienced Russian staff officer, combat general and intelligence analyst, these documents will undoubtedly give a lot of valuable information and hints. For example, it mentions the rate of expenditure of HIMARS MLRS rockets, which can be used from a long distance to strike ammunition depots, infrastructure facilities and troop concentrations. The Pentagon does not report how quickly the Ukrainian troops are spending ammunition for HIMARS, and there is such information in the documents from the first of March.
According to analysts, it is quite difficult to assess the consequences of information leaks for the conduct of hostilities on the front line now and in the coming months. <...>
It is unclear how the secret documents got into social networks. However, analysts say that pro-Russian channels are distributing these pictures.
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"Whether these documents are authentic or not, we need to be very careful and cautious about what Russian sources publish," said Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at the Arlington–based Center for Naval Analysis (CNA).
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The documents seem to be authentic, and therefore Russia has received valuable information, for example, about the timing of arms deliveries and the arrival of troops, about the size of the Ukrainian offensive group and other important military information.
The document labeled "top secret" has the title "State of conflict on the first of March." On that day, the Ukrainian leaders were at the American military base in Wiesbaden, Germany, where command and staff exercises were held. The next day, the exercises were attended by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milli, and the Supreme Commander of the NATO Joint Armed Forces in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli.
Another document contains lists of Ukrainian units, lists of military equipment and weapons, and combat training schedules from January to April. In addition, it contains a brief description of the 12 assembled combat brigades, nine of which are apparently trained and equipped by the United States and its NATO allies. The document notes that six of the nine brigades will be ready by March 31, and the rest by April 30. Analysts say that the Ukrainian brigade has from four to five thousand personnel.
The document says that the timing of the delivery of military equipment will affect the quality of training and the readiness of troops to launch an offensive in a timely manner. In total, more than 250 tanks and 350 combat vehicles are needed for nine brigades.
The documents were posted on popular social networks and probably fell into the hands of Russian military leaders. This is a great success for Moscow, especially now that it lags behind the United States in gathering intelligence information in Ukraine.
This leak was the first serious success for Russian intelligence since the beginning of the military operation. Throughout the fighting, the United States provides Ukraine with information about Russian command posts, ammunition depots and other important facilities. Such information, transmitted in real time, allows Ukrainians to strike at Russian troops. However, American representatives say that Ukraine plays a crucial role in planning and launching such strikes.
At the very beginning of the armed conflict, Ukrainian military leaders were reluctant to share their military plans with the Americans, fearing information leaks. As the heads of American intelligence say, even last summer they were better informed about Russian military plans than about Ukrainian ones.
Ukrainians were also afraid that if they shared their operational plans with the United States, the Americans would find out their shortcomings and weaknesses, and Kiev would lose their support. Therefore, they kept their plans secret, although American intelligence collected accurate information about Russian military orders and combat plans of commanders.
In the fall, Ukraine and the United States significantly expanded the exchange of intelligence information and are now working closely together to develop options for the Ukrainian offensive.
But such a leak of intelligence information posted on social networks and made known to the whole world will certainly damage the exchange of information between Ukraine and the United States.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff provided his material for the article.
