The Pentagon admitted on Monday that the leak of alleged classified documents, including reports on the situation in Ukraine and Russia as well as data on allies, poses “a very serious risk to US national security” and “has the potential to spread disinformation.” to spread”. “. Dozens of photos of documents are circulating on social networks, the situation was made public last Friday following an article by the The New York Times. The leak is being investigated by the Justice Department, but the Pentagon has not confirmed the authenticity of the documents.
In Kiev, officials speak of a possible disinformation campaign by Moscow, but in the Russian capital, war bloggers suspect it could be a Western plot to mislead Russian troops ahead of the anticipated Ukrainian offensive.
“The photos appear to show documents similar in size to those used to update our leaders on a daily basis about Ukraine and Russia-related operations,” said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Chris Meagher, adding that some “appear to have been modified”. . One of those changes was reportedly made to a document showing Ukraine had more casualties than Russia, when the original version would show otherwise.
Regardless of these possible changes, most of the documents appear to be true, at least judging by the reaction and concern of US authorities. It is an information leak (they are photos of the folded documents) and not computer piracy, and it is not yet clear how the material is on the various social networks or messaging services – Twitter, Telegram, 4chan, Discord. Some, according to The New York Timeshave indicated that they are only on display for the US, raising suspicions that the leak is internal.
What impact will the information leak have on the war? The documents analyzed do not yet contain any information about concrete operations of the expected Ukrainian counter-offensive, but they do show how the Americans have helped Kiev and how the Allies are preparing to continue that support. The fact that the Russians now know (if they trust the information) the extent to which their military services could be compromised – the US apparently knew about the planned attacks on an almost daily basis – may lead them to change tactics.
In addition, the documents would show that the Ukrainian armed forces are in worse shape than what has been publicized, namely that the air defense system could be on the verge of collapse if more ammunition does not enter Ukraine. One of the documents shows that South Korean officials are under pressure from US allies to supply weapons to Ukrainians, and official policy is not to supply offensive weapons to countries at war. Israel also has the same problem.
Source: DN
