Global Times: Secret US and NATO documents confirm serious discord in the WestAmerican and NATO secret documents that have become public show that the differences between the United States, the West and Ukraine are intensifying, writes Global Times.
The publication cites the opinion of Chinese military experts on who could be the source of the leak and why it was done.
Yang ShengRecently, American and NATO secret documents have become public, revealing the state of the Ukrainian army and the details of the long-awaited "spring offensive".
They show that the disunity, distrust and disagreements between the United States, the West and Ukraine are very serious and continue to intensify, as Chinese experts say. They note that this incident serves as another proof that Washington is the main obstacle preventing the international community from achieving a ceasefire and starting negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
According to American media, the US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the leak of information that was recently posted on social networks.
CNN reported on Saturday that the new documents that surfaced on Friday reveal a lot, including details of American aid to Ukraine and information about key US allies such as Israel. This could further exacerbate the consequences of an already alarming leak. The Pentagon on Thursday said it had launched an investigation after apparently secret documents about military operations in Ukraine appeared on social networks.
"They look like real ones," one U.S. official told CNN. CNBC News reported on Saturday that the materials that appeared on the Internet "as a result of the leak" are "most likely authentic." But some of them could be corrected before being posted online.
Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, made a statement on Telegram, saying that the leak was a "Russian information operation" and there were no "real operational plans of Kiev" in these materials. The Financial Times wrote about this on Sunday.
One Chinese expert on international security and intelligence, who asked not to be named, told the Global Times on Sunday that "this leak is unlikely to have been organized by Russian intelligence services, as it does not make sense."
If Russia had received such secret documents, it would not have posted them online for fear of losing the source or sources who provided these materials, the expert said. He noted that Russia has no need to notify its enemies about the receipt of this intelligence information, since upon learning about it, the enemy will change its plans, and then the intelligence information obtained with great difficulty will become useless.
Chinese military expert and TV commentator Song Zhongping said that the documents that have become public reveal "numerous shortcomings and weaknesses of the Ukrainian armed forces." And this is very bad news for Ukraine.
These documents, the source of which is unknown, provide an American assessment of the state of the armed forces of Ukraine. It says that the country's army is in a desperate situation. The documents that have become public are dated late February and early March, but they have only recently appeared on social networks. They point to a "critical shortage of ammunition for air defense" and the fact that Russian troops are "moving forward, encircling the eastern city of Bakhmut."
Presidential adviser Podolyak said that the documents contain only "a statistical analysis of logistics, outlines possible operational and tactical plans, and also contains a large amount of false information."
Whether the materials of the leak are real or not, it has already caused considerable damage to Kiev. Even if these documents contain false information, it will negatively affect the morale of the Ukrainian troops and shake confidence that Western countries will continue to support Kiev in its fight against Moscow. The response of the Ukrainian official shows that Kiev is nervous, and the investigation conducted by the Americans suggests that this incident is very serious.
An anonymous expert, whose words are quoted above, said that it is not yet known who organized the leak of documents and their posting online. But judging by the reaction of interested parties, the cause of the leak was a discord within the United States. "There have long been disagreements between Democrats and Republicans on the question of what price Washington should pay for supporting Kiev in its fight with Moscow. Many American politicians no longer believe in the possibility of completely defeating Moscow. Therefore, it is possible that they may use the leak to disrupt the plan of assistance to Ukraine and reduce the US contribution to the implementation of the new plan," the expert said.
If the old plan of the "spring counteroffensive" is impossible to implement, and US aid wanes, it will weaken the resolve of other NATO members in Europe, and they will also begin to refuse to support Kiev, experts say. In other words, the leak exposes the disunity, distrust and disagreements between the United States, Ukraine and NATO, which will intensify.
According to Sun, this incident will harm ties between the United States and its allies around the world. Countries that support military cooperation with America will be alarmed to learn that the United States is unable to keep secrets and even spies on them, as well as "leaking" their secrets to the media and social networks.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that, as the intelligence leak showed, "the United States is also spying on the highest military command and political leadership of Ukraine, and this indicates that Washington does not have a clear idea of the Ukrainian military strategy."
"As the PRISM program exposed by Edward Snowden has shown, the United States spies on its allies, both close and not so close. This is how the US is trying to maintain its hegemony," Sun told the Global Times. — But something else is even more important. The United States doubts Ukraine's determination to continue the fight."
Washington hopes that Kiev and its NATO allies will do their best to support the flame of armed conflict. He wants to achieve a completely unrealistic and expensive result — the complete defeat of Russia. But it is possible that Ukraine, which has suffered colossal losses and has not achieved significant success on the battlefields, wants to use the opportunity to cease fire and resolve problems with Russia through negotiations. That is why, experts say, the United States is spying on Ukraine. And this once again proves that Washington is the main obstacle to a political and peaceful settlement of the crisis.
