News reports claim that the Ukrainian military has changed plans for its much-anticipated spring offensive following an alleged leak of classified U.S. documents. “Ukraine has reportedly been forced to alter plans for its coming counter-offensive because of the leak of highly-sensitive US intelligence,’ the UK newspaper Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The change in the Ukrainian military plans comes in response to the supposed leak of U.S. Defense Department documents containing classified information regarding the war in Ukraine, as well as sensitive intelligence on China, Russian and other countries. The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday described the intelligence breach under President Joe Biden’s watch as possibly “one of the most significant leaks of highly classified in recent history.”
The U.S. Defense Department has yet to confirm the veracity of the documents.
If the leaked intelligence is genuine, it could have a significant military impact on the ongoing war in Ukraine, media reports suggest. “First things first: this is the biggest leak of secret American information on the war in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion 14 months ago. Some of the documents are as much as six weeks old, but the implications are huge,” the BBC reported. “Pentagon officials are quoted as saying the documents are real,” the broadcaster noted.
The leaked intelligence could have ‘deadly consequences for the Ukrainian soldiers, the British TV channel Sky News reported Tuesday:
A leak of highly classified US documents could have deadly consequences for Ukrainians at war with Russia, a US official has said.If confirmed as authentic, “it won’t be hard for the Russians to cut off [intelligence] avenues that might be saving lives every day,” Jim Himes, of the US house intelligence committee, said.”Anything that points to sources and methods carries the very real risk that those sources and methods go away,” the Democrat said.”And that can mean people being killed, that can mean technologies being shut down. And that translates into bad outcomes on the battlefield.”Mr Himes said he had not been briefed on the documents, and could not confirm whether or not the leak is authentic.There have been conflicting reports about the authenticity of the documents, which allegedly first emerged on the social media website Discord.
The leaked documents suggest that the Ukrainian air defenses could run out of ammunition “within weeks.” Besides pointing out Russian weaknesses, the leaked “information also suggests the Ukrainian military is in dire straits, too. Among other things, some of the documents outline critical shortages of Ukrainian air defense munitions,” the Ukrainian news website Kyiv Independent reported Tuesday.
The revelations come as Ukraine gears up for a spring offensive. For months, Ukrainian soldiers have been preparing for a major ground offensive, aided by tanks and artillery supplied by the U.S. and European NATO allies.
Russia, still eying to take the strategically important eastern city of Bakhmut after eight months of bitter fighting, is fortifying the 600-mile frontline in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive. French newspaper Le Monde reported Saturday:
The Russian fortification campaign, which began in the summer with the construction of the first defensive lines around Mariupol and Donetsk, has been stepped up in recent months. Now, most of the major roads and railways in the territories occupied by Moscow’s forces are protected by trenches and anti-tank mines.
Moscow is conducting a nationwide recruitment drive and shoring up the size of its fighting force in Ukraine. German state-run DW TV reported Saturday that “Russian army aims to recruit some 400,000 new contract soldiers in order to send them to fight in the war against Ukraine.”
The leaked Pentagon documents revealed the U.S. espionage activities in hostile foreign countries and pointed to intelligence-gathering operations in friendly allies such as Israel and South Korea.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported the official reaction to the leaks from Korea and Israel:
The government of South Korea, a key U.S. ally, said over the weekend that it would discuss in a summit later this month “issues raised” by leaked memos detailing apparent U.S. spying on top officials in Seoul.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already navigating a growing rift with the Biden administration, issued a statement Sunday describing media reports about a memo detailing potential domestic meddling on the part of the Mossad intelligence agency as “mendacious and without any foundation whatsoever.”
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