New batch of classified US documents on Ukraine leaked online
One of the intelligence officials described the leak as “a nightmare for the Five Eyes”
A new batch of the US classified documents on Ukraine surfaced on social media sites on Friday, The New York Times reported Friday.
According to the newspaper, American classified documents on the Middle East and China also appeared on social networks, including on Twitter.
In total, the publication points out, there were more than 100 documents on the Web. Some of the papers are marked that their content should not be known to representatives of any other country.
“The scale of the leak — analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained — along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, U.S. officials said,” the newspaper reported.
One of the intelligence officials described the leak as “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” “in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence,” the newspaper added.
One of the documents, as the newspaper notes, is a map with the balance of power around Artemovsk (the Ukrainian name is Bakhmut). Other classified materials, the newspaper points out, relate to China and the Indo-Pacific region, the Middle East, and the fight against terrorism.
“The Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday that the Defense Department was looking into the matter,” the newspaper reported.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported citing representatives of the administration of US President Joe Biden that the Pentagon had launched an investigation into the leak of classified documents regarding US and NATO plans to prepare the Ukrainian armed forces for a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Numerous documents revealing information about schedules for the supply of weapons, the number of troops and battalions have been published on social networks such as Twitter and Telegram.
The documents contain a timetable for the preparation, acquisition of equipment and ammunition for the spring counteroffensive of nine brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces, which are trained and equipped by the United States and allies.
According to the documents, six of them were supposed to be ready by March 31, three more – by April 30, data on the three brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces, which are being preparing by Kiev itself are not provided.
Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday that the data published on social networks is not true and has nothing to do with Kiev real plans.
