The spokesman for the US Security Council reported that the Department of Defense was leading an interagency investigation into the document leak.
(Photo: AP)
Kyiv The US government is trying to clarify after the release of intelligence documents on the war in Ukraine. “We take this very, very seriously,” said National Security Council communications director John Kirby on Monday (local time) in Washington.
The Department of Defense is leading an interagency review “of what implications this could have for national security.” The Justice Department is running a criminal investigation. President Joe Biden will be kept informed.
Apparently secret documents from US agencies on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine have been circulating on the Internet for weeks. US media have been reporting sensitive material on both warring parties for days without publishing the documents themselves. It is unclear who published the documents that were circulated weeks ago on pro-Russian channels. The investigative network Bellingcat proved that some were subsequently manipulated.
Kiev: Information on the counter-offensive is still secret
While the media reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s environment had reacted angrily to the data leak, Kiev demonstrated its composure, at least to the outside world: the Secretary of the National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, denied that data on military operations, the size of the units and the direction had reached the public.
“This information is absolutely secret,” he said in an ARD interview. The start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will only be decided at the last moment.
Ukraine doubts US wiretapping Zelenskiy
The Ukrainian leadership also cast doubt on an alleged US wiretapping operation against Zelenskiy. Consultations between the head of state and the military took place differently than published secret service documents, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak on Ukrainian television on Monday.
The publications do not jeopardize Ukraine’s relations with its western partners. “These are normal analyses,” he said. Plans for a Ukrainian counter-offensive would also not be torpedoed because work is still in progress.
Ukraine has doubts that its president’s deliberations were actually bugged and reports about them published.
(Photo: dpa)
Previously, there had been reports of secret documents from the US Department of Defense that Zelenskiy, in a consultation with the army leadership at the end of February, had proposed drone strikes on Russian army locations in the Russian state of Rostov. That may have encouraged Washington not to supply Kiev with long-range weapons, it said.
Podoljak contradicted this statement: “It makes no sense to simply say in the abstract: Let’s bomb the Rostov region.” Rather, priorities are set and strategies defined at such consultations.
Zelensky welcomes prisoner exchanges with Moscow
Zelenski ignored the publication of the documents in his daily video address. Instead, he welcomed the exchange of more than 200 prisoners of war between Moscow and Kiev. “These are 100 families who were given real joy before Easter,” said Zelenskyj on Monday about the Ukrainian returnees. The Orthodox Churches celebrate Easter next Sunday.
The head of state thanked Germany for further military aid. Armor technology, air defense systems, ammunition, machines and medical technology have been delivered in the past two weeks. Referring to Russia, Zelensky added: “The word loser must accompany the word aggressor. And only a Ukrainian victory can ensure that.”
Belarusian ruler Lukashenko asks Russia for protection
The Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko called on the big neighbor Russia to protect Belarus like “Russian territory”. At a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Minsk on Monday, Lukashenko asked for appropriate security guarantees, the state news agency Belta reported. He also thanked for the stationing of thousands of soldiers on Belarusian territory. Russia had announced that it would also station nuclear weapons in Belarus.
Russia’s Northern Fleet began major maneuvers in Arctic waters. 1,800 soldiers and more than a dozen ships are to take part in the exercise, which will last several days, the press service of the fleet said on Monday, according to the Interfax news agency. 40 aircraft and helicopters are also in use, as well as vehicles for land operations. The Arctic is thus increasingly becoming another area of tension between Russia and the West. Russia is making territorial claims here, including the North Pole.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
What will be important on Tuesday
While fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, the focus is also on China. The visit of Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also wants to talk about a peace plan for Ukraine, begins there. Ukraine has already rejected his proposal to Kiev to renounce the Crimean Peninsula, which had been annexed by Russia. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov receives his Kazakh colleague Murat Nurtleu in Moscow.
More: Current news on the development of the Ukraine war can be found in our news blog