Secret documents about the war have surfaced on the Internet.
(Photo: IMAGO/NurPhoto)
Washington, Kyiv The US has expressed reluctance to release allegedly secret plans to support Ukraine. “We are aware of the reports of the social media posts and the Ministry of Defense is reviewing the matter,” ministry spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Friday. The alleged US documents, which are circulating on Twitter and Telegram, among others, are dated March 1 and classified as “Secret” or “Top Secret”. If they were genuine and leaked to the public, that would be a very unusual occurrence.
One of the papers states that 16,000 to 17,500 Russian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Those close to the US government said, however, that the US assumed that the number was actually much higher – it was assumed that around 200,000 Russians were killed and wounded.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the US Department of Defense is investigating how documents about plans to support Ukrainian forces ahead of the expected counter-offensive against Russia got onto the Internet platforms.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence service said in Kiev it was possible that the details in the posts were fabricated and that there was no leak. A preliminary analysis indicated that there were incorrect and distorted casualty figures and some of the information came from openly accessible sources.
A statement by the Ukrainian Presidential Office said that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and high-ranking representatives of the security authorities discussed ways on Friday of how the disclosure of military secret information could be prevented. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak had previously said the reports looked like Russian disinformation intended to cast doubt on the counteroffensive.
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