Pentagon probes docs purporting to show Ukraine spring attack

[ad_1]

The Pentagon announced Friday it is reviewing whether alleged US government documents supposedly detailing highly classified plans for a spring military offensive by Ukrainian forces were leaked by pro-Russian social media accounts this week.

At least five photos of printed presentation slides and maps were posted to Telegram Thursday. Three of the photos are labeled “Secret” and one is labeled “Top Secret,” according to a review by The Post. A fourth shows no visible classified markings.

Slides dated March 1 detail timelines for training and preparation of nine Ukrainian brigades as well as information about tanks, vehicles and other artillery, along with equipment supply trains.

It was not immediately clear whether the documents were authentic.

The Kremlin-aligned accounts appear to have altered estimated casualties in the plans, saying the military offensive will claim the lives of far fewer Russian troops —“16k-17.5k” — than Ukrainian troops — “61k-71.5k.”

The slides also indicate the presence of nearly 100 special-operations troops in Ukraine from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, including the UK, US, France, and Latvia — though none of those nations have announced troop deployments.


A Ukrainian soldier ducks away from an artillery blast.
The Pentagon is reviewing whether alleged US government documents reveal a highly classified Ukraine military offensive.
AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian forces training with mortar launchers.
NATO countries have been arming the Ukrainian Army with weapons and tanks.
AFP via Getty Images

“We are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Friday.

If proven to be authentic, the images — which also appeared Wednesday on the online message board 4chan — may complicate intelligence-sharing efforts between the US and Ukraine, though officials stressed otherwise.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Friday that if the documents were real, the Russians would not have posted them.


A Ukrainian artillery launch
Officials stressed the leak of the documents would not complicate intelligence-sharing between the US and Ukraine.
AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian forces.
The Pentagon is now reviewing the alleged leak.
REUTERS

“If you have a working channel for receiving intelligence from the Pentagon, you will not destroy it for a one-day information drive,” he said on his Telegram channel. “If you have information about the level of support and military plans of the enemy, you will pretend that you do not have it. If you try to pretend you know, then you don’t know anything.”

“This is a bluff, dust in the eyes. You do not own the data, but you are only trying to play destabilization, informationally and psychologically influence decision-makers,” Podolyak added.

“Rather,” he went on, “the published data is based on a statistical analysis of supplies, possible operational and tactical plans, as well as a large volume of fictitious information.”


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
AP

A bombed-out building in Kostyantynivka, Ukraine.
A bombed out building from a Russian missile strike in the town of Kostyantynivka.
AFP via Getty Images

“As for the real plans of the counteroffensive—Russian troops, without a question, will be the first to become acquainted with them. I suppose that this may happen very soon,” Podolyak added.

Podolyak also called the leaked documents a “photoshop.”

“Since the USSR collapse [Russian] intelligence has degraded to an extent that the only way to redeem themselves after ‘Salisbury,’ ‘3-day plans’ etc. is photoshop & ‘virtual fake leaks.’ Moscow is eager to disrupt[Ukrainian] counteroffensive but it will see the real plans on the ground. Soon,” he said on Twitter.


Ukrainian forces.
A Ukrainian counteroffensive has been expected.
REUTERS

Word of a Ukrainian counteroffensive is not a surprise. NATO countries have been arming Ukrainian forces with weapons and tanks, as well as Stryker, Marder and Bradley armored vehicles.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also told German and French reporters Friday that supporters of Ukraine must “do everything possible to help Ukraine to regain territories taken by Russia, including through a counteroffensive, expected in the coming weeks.”

Russian forces also have anticipated a springtime incursion by Ukraine to recapture its territory — around 18% of which is now under Kremlin control.

The slides allege that there are more Russian troops than Ukrainian troops on the front lines of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions.


The Pentagon in Arlington County, Va.
Pro-Russian military accounts on Telegram accused the Pentagon of trying to deceive the Kremlin in publishing the docs.
REUTERS

Some pro-Russian military analysts also cast doubt on the slides’ authenticity too, claiming the US was attempting to deceive the Kremlin by inflating Ukrainian casualties.

“Isn’t that leak part of a big deception plan against Moscow on the verge of the intensification of combat on the frontline?” asked Yuri Kotenok, whose Telegram channel has around 420,000 followers.



[ad_2]

Source link