The documents, some of which have the tag “top secret,” provided a thorough account of the conflict in Ukraine, complete with timeframes and military terminology. In light of the leaked documents, Ukraine is now rethinking its counter-offensive against Russia, reports claimed.
On Monday, Russian forces stepped up their bombardment on key cities in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainian officials downplayed a report that Kyiv is changing parts of its plans for a counter-offensive due to a leak of sensitive American information.
Unnamed sources close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Monday that Kyiv has to re-evaluate some of its plans due to the recent leak of top-secret Pentagon documents.
As the fighting continued, the United States also claimed that Ukraine had to alter some military preparations before its eagerly anticipated counter-offensive because dozens of top-secret documents had been leaked.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence recently showed soldiers getting Western equipment and training in a video teasing the onslaught over the weekend. It showed the slogan “Spring Is Coming” and read, “What it takes most armies months to learn, the Ukrainian army has mastered in few weeks.”
A significant effect of leaked documents on Ukraine
According to Ukrainian officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday, the supposedly leaked documents contained false information and appeared to be the product of a Russian misinformation campaign.
The source of a leak of sensitive data covering a variety of subjects, from Ukraine’s air defences to Israel’s Mossad spy organisation, is being investigated by U.S. officials.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential assistant, responded that Ukraine’s overarching goals remained unchanged but that more detailed tactical plans were always susceptible to change.
According to Podolyak, some strategic tasks and operations cannot be changed. He added that the operational and tactical strategies are continually improved and improvised, depending on the battlefield, resources, intelligence on the enemy’s resources, etc.
Russia-Ukraine war update
According to Kyiv, Russian artillery and airstrikes were being used to pound Ukrainian forces surrounding Bakhmut, which is under siege in the eastern Donetsk region, as well as other cities and towns.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, head of Ukraine’s ground troops, said that the enemy shifted to scorched earth tactics from Syria. The enemy demolishes structures and tactical positions with artillery fire and airstrikes in Bakhmut.
The main theatre of combat in the conflict has been Donetsk, a small and now primarily destroyed city on the edge of a region under Russian control. Russian soldiers currently control 75% of the city, according to Denis Pushilin, the governor of the Donetsk region under Moscow’s control.
The city of Avdiivka was also a target for Moscow’s troops. The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said an air strike on Monday damaged a multi-story structure and that the Russians have turned Avdiivka into a ruined city.
A shortage of weapons for Ukraine
On Monday, a spokesman for the Ukrainian air force did not deny allegations that Kyiv was experiencing severe shortages.
Yuri Ignat stated on Ukrainian public television that “quantity is the issue.” He continued, I wouldn’t tell how many [Western-made] air defence systems we’ll need to replace [Soviet-made] ones.
He acknowledged that “the wait could be very long” and that Ukrainian troops urgently require jets. However, he added that Kyiv intends to get British Typhoons and US-made F-16 fighter jets.
His remarks came simultaneously as U.K. defence sources argued another assertion made in the leaked documents, according to which Moscow almost shot down a British spy plane over the Black Sea.
Ben Wallace, the Defense Secretary, stood by his claim before MPs that a Russian fighter jet shot a missile only “in the vicinity” of an RAF aircraft.
