The leak of dozens of U.S. intelligence and Pentagon documents has already become “the most serious breach of Washington’s national security system in many years.” writing The Guardian. At the same time, the extent of the damage caused is still unclear, as the leaked documents are likely only the “tip of the iceberg”, and the rest of the files have simply not yet been found.
Officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kiev are asking Washington questions about what other information has been made public, who is responsible for the leak and what the United States is doing to suppress the leaked information. How Remarks Politico, allies are asking the White House if the Joe Biden administration is taking steps to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.
In early April, journalists drew attention to US military and intelligence documents posted on the Internet about the war in Ukraine, as well as China, Iran, South Korea, Israel and others country. He describes the situation on the front in Ukraine at the beginning of March, the vulnerability of the air defense system, presents various questions about the Ukrainian counteroffensive (the date of its start is not called), the balance of forces and losses of the parties. Learn more about what the documents say and their authenticity. Here.
The New York Times is attentive on the difficulty of determining the motives for leaking documents, since these documents, in particular, show the weaknesses of the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces.
Political sources say members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which includes the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, have requested information from Washington but have not not yet received a “substantial response”. Monday morning April 10, US officials told their allies they were investigating and still trying to assess the extent of the leak. Politico notes that officials from the State Department, intelligence agencies, and the Pentagon are trying to dispel any partners’ fears about the leak.
According to Politico, the story of the leaked documents has led to a crisis in relations between the United States and its allies. In particular, this is due to the fact that the United States has repeatedly stated that efforts to support Kiev depend on cooperation between allies, and most of the leaked documents relate specifically to the war in Ukraine.
“The leak method and its contents are very unusual. I don’t remember when such a volume and coverage of information leaked, and ended up on social media,” said a former US intelligence analyst specializing in Russia.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the White House has assembled a “multi-agency team” to assess the impact of the leaked documents on the national security of the United States and its partners. However, who is involved in this team is unknown, Politico notes. According to a senior US official, discussions on how to handle the leak are only “at the highest level”.
“I have no idea what the plan is. I myself would like to know how we are going to act,” said another high-ranking US representative in a conversation with the publication.
Officials of Ukraine’s national security structures were outraged by the leak, Politico claims. According to one of the European sources, the published information was perceived in kyiv as a “long-term security problem” for the military command. At the same time, one of the Ukrainian officials noted that the leak is not considered a “big problem” in Kyiv.
Officially, kyiv claims that leaking Pentagon documents should not spoil Ukraine’s relations with Western countries. “It’s a normal analysis. And I don’t see that it should somehow undermine our mutual relationship with our partners. It doesn’t confuse any plan, because they are still being worked on, they are still being worked on. operational and tactical, declared Advisor to the Cabinet of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak.
He added that some of the information in the leaked documents was already known, including that Ukraine did not have air defense systems.