Ukraine kept counteroffensive plan secret from US before Pentagon leak
Only President Zelensky and his leadership know all the details of the plan, according to the US Defense Department
Kyiv did not provide Washington with classified intelligence before the Pentagon leak because it doubted the US ability to keep information secret.
Source. This was reported by the Associated Press with reference to Ukrainian and American officials.
According to them, only the Ukrainian side knows the battle plans and other data related to the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Therefore, the leaked Pentagon documents will not affect the situation on the battlefield and will not change the course of the war.
"If combat actions are planned, only a very narrow circle of people knows about the planning of a special operation. The risk of leakage is extremely minimal," said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.
The secrecy of the counteroffensive plan was not violated by the leak from the Pentagon, said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
"They have a great plan, but only President Zelenskiy and his leadership really know all the details of that plan," he said.
The work of Ukraine's military command to develop a strategy and tactics for a counteroffensive has not been affected by the leaks, assured Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office. "Operations are still being developed: the front line is flexible, changes are made daily," he explained.
The release of the classified documents could not have harmed Ukraine's military plans, as the most sensitive and important intelligence is usually not included in the US Defense Department's reports, said John Cypher, a former senior CIA official and Russia expert.
Background. More than 100 classified US and NATO documents have been leaked online. The original source of the leak was a closed chat moderated by US Air Force National Guard pilot Jack Teixeira.
The documents contained information about the training of Ukrainian troops, the supply of Western equipment to Ukraine, losses on both sides, and the possible transfer of weapons from China to Russia.
According to the indictment filed in court by the US government, Jack Teixeira has had access to top secret documents since 2021.
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