Ukraine’s President Office states that leaked files did not contain data on AFU counteroffensive, while Pentagon is still assessing leak extent
The Pentagon is still assessing the scale of the leak of secret documents related to Ukraine. Advisor to the President's office, Mykhailo Podolyak, in his turn noted that the documents did not contain data on the Armed Forces counteroffensive
CNN writes about it.
"The Department of Defense is working around the clock to look at the scope and scale of the distribution, the assessed impact, and our mitigation measures,” Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs said. “We're still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue. There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom. We’re also still trying to assess what might be out there."
It is reported that some documents contained intelligence related to Ukraine.
Meagher noted that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was first informed of the leak on April 6, and the next day he began "convening senior executives on a daily basis." US officials have already spoken with allies and partners also affected by the leaked documents.
Mykhailo Podolyak, President's advisor, noted that the leak did not relate to the AFU counteroffensive as there is no operational-tactical data on it yet.
"I don't really understand why everyone says that there are documents related to a counteroffensive, because strategically everyone talks about a counteroffensive but operational-tactical data, operational-tactical scenarios are completely absent in public space, they simply cannot physically exist, because they are still being prepared for a counteroffensive – reserves, resources, etc. are being accumulated, and to talk about the fact that someone already clearly understands where, what and how Ukraine will do directly on the battlefield, it seems strange, to put it mildly, he said.
He emphasizes that the leaked documents contain "analytical data" that Ukraine already makes public.
Podoliak believes that these documents are "an information component that the Russian Federation takes care of", and their main purpose is to discredit relations between Ukraine and other partners, to make people see that Russia allegedly controls certain types of information, and also to divert attention.
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On April 6, The New York Times wrote about the leak of classified documents detailing US and NATO plans to build up the Ukrainian army before a planned counteroffensive. The Pentagon launched an investigation.
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Almost immediately, a new batch of secret documents appeared on social networks, which reveal American national security secrets regarding Ukraine, the Middle East, and China.
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Already on April 8, Ukrainian intelligence reported that the so-called classified military documents about offensive plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are actually a forgery and a special operation of the Russian services. Russia could forge documents to disrupt Western aid to Ukraine.
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On April 9, Bellingcat journalists found out that the primary source of the "leaked" secret Pentagon documents was a Discord server.
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CNN reported that the Ukrainian command changed some of its military plans after the leak of classified Pentagon documents.
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