Leaking of secret NATO data: Armed Forces of Ukraine changed their plans for a future counterattack, – media

The Ukrainian military command had to change some of the military plans due to the leaking of confidential documents about the future counterattack. This was stated on April 9 by a source from the American television channel CNN.

Thanks to the declassification of Pentagon documents, it became clear how the United States spied on its allies and enemies. According to the material notes, the fact of the disclosure greatly worried US officials, who now feared jeopardizing confidential sources of information and important international relations.

Some documents that US officials say are genuine reveal the extent of the interception of key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.

Another part of the material shows the extent of US influence on the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian Wagner PMC. This was mainly done by capturing communications and communicating with live sources, but now these can be interrupted or compromised.

And the third part of the documents contains information about the weak points in the armament of the Ukrainian army – air defense systems, the number of battalions and readiness for the critical stage of the war. The authors explained that all this happened at the moment of the development of secret relations between the United States and Ukraine regarding the exchange of intelligence information.

Pentagon to reduce flow of top secret documents

A source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN that the command’s plans had changed due to the data leak. Sabrina Singh, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary, said on April 9 that the Pentagon is making a “multi-agency effort” to assess its full impact on national security and US allies and partners.

Singh added that US officials had contacted allies over the weekend about the leak and informed relevant congressional committees.

Officials said in a conversation with CNN that the Pentagon had to cut off the flow of top secret documents and increase control over them.

A spokesperson for the US Department of Defense added that the joint headquarters, which includes senior Pentagon officials advising the US president, is checking mailing lists to identify the recipient of confidential data.

Many of the documents contain markings that prove they were prepared by the J2 Joint Headquarters Intelligence Agency. The interlocutors said that perhaps these materials are briefing documents.

Data leak could affect the course of hostilities in Ukraine

Diplomats from some countries told CNN that such public disclosure damaged the reputation of the United States.

An official from a member country of FVEY intelligence said, “We expect the United States to share a damage assessment with us in the coming days. We are carefully examining these documents to find out if any information has come from our collection.” sharing agreement (The Five Eyes group, which includes the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – ed.).

The second representative of the FVEY group is concerned about the leak of military data on hostilities in Ukraine, which could interfere with the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield. According to him, one of the February documents titled “Russia-Ukraine: The Donbass war will probably reach a stalemate in 2023” is alarming. The document highlights difficulties in estimating the duration of Ukraine’s operations.

“It will be difficult for Ukraine to benefit, but it will not help if the US assessment is made public, which points to a possible stalemate,” the source said.

CNN reporters reviewed 53 public domain documents. One of them proves that the US is spying on Zelensky. A source close to Zelenskiy said this is not surprising, but Ukrainian officials are deeply disappointed by the leak.

“At the end of February, Zelensky suggested using drones to attack the Russian troop deployments in the Rostov region of the Russian Federation, as Ukraine does not have long-range weapons capable of reaching such a range.” aforementioned.

Another intelligence report says that China could use Ukraine’s attacks on Russian targets as an opportunity to portray NATO as the aggressor, and then increase aid to Moscow if it deems the attacks significant.

Analysts say attackers have already used published documents to spread misinformation.

Recall that on April 9, Bellingcat investigators learned of the approximate date for the “leakage” of the Pentagon documents. Some files started appearing on Discord servers for players in January 2023.

The revelation of “secret military documents” regarding NATO’s plans to further support the Ukrainian Armed Forces became known on 7 April. Washington was convinced that Moscow was behind this.