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WASHINGTON, April 13 (AP) — Ukrainian leaders say they don’t think a major U.S. intelligence leak will wreak havoc on future offensives. A key reason: They have long refused to share information about their most sensitive operations, doubting Washington’s ability to keep their secrets safe.
Ukrainian and U.S. officials said this week that only the Ukrainians knew some battle plans and other operational information, but not the Americans, their most important ally. That means the leak of secret military documents, including some assessing Ukraine’s strengths and weaknesses against Russia on the battlefield, may so far not be enough to change the course of the war.
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“If a military operation is planned, then very few people know about the plans for special operations,” Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malyar said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday. For the most important matters of war, “the risk of leakage is very small”.
Still, the U.S. considers the leak serious. The files included previously unreported sensitive information about Ukraine, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. Senior Biden administration officials are working to stem the flow of classified information to social media and websites and avoid any lasting damage to relationships with allies and strategic partners.
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And more damaging material could still surface. Leaked documents continue to appear online, and future disclosures could be more harmful to Ukraine than those made public so far.
Meanwhile, Russia has made it clear that it is eagerly studying every leaked secret. “Very interesting,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the leak.
Still, online Russian-language discussion groups show that Russian military bloggers are debating whether the leak itself was U.S. disinformation designed to mislead Russia by creating an impression of Ukrainian forces as vulnerable.
Ukrainian officials and ordinary Ukrainians have made it clear that they cannot openly split over the leaks with the United States, which has provided Ukraine with more than $100 billion in military and civilian support.
“It’s a pity that something like this happened,” said Natalia Maltseva, a woman in Kiev who said many said their thoughts had nothing to do with the U.S. intelligence leak.
But “I trust Joe Biden, I know he is an experienced man who loves Ukraine. I believe everything can only get better,” Maltseva said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in Washington after speaking with Ukraine’s foreign minister that secrecy remained intact in one important area — Ukraine’s plans for any action to repel Russian forces.
“They have a great plan … but only President Zelensky and his leadership really know the full details of that plan,” the U.S. defense secretary said.
Ukraine’s civilian and military chiefs — speaking in European and North American capitals about their constant trips to collect Western weapons and cash to keep Ukraine fighting — responded to a question about whether the leaks would damage relations with the U.S., saying Ukraine Solidarity among allies is one of Ukraine’s most important war needs.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told reporters in Madrid on Wednesday that the details revealed were “unpleasant”.
“There is a lot of information that is untrue,” Reznikoff added, without elaborating. “Real information has lost its relevance.”
He called the leak a purposeful information operation in favor of Russia to “reduce the level of trust among allies”.
Senator Joe Manchin said concerns about the impact of the U.S. intelligence leak were expressed “everywhere” during a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kiev on Wednesday. The West Virginia Democrat was joined by Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as country music singer Brad Paisley, for a one-day official visit that included a meeting with President Vaughn. Meeting of Lodmir Zelenskiy and other senior officials.
The leaked documents included photos of paper documents that were crumpled from folding. Information on some of the documents had been doctored, U.S. defense officials said.
The documents show real-time details of the location of Ukrainian and Russian battlefields in February and March, as well as the precise amount of lost and new battlefield equipment that flowed into Ukraine from its allies.
They also reveal how close Ukraine’s vital air defense system is to running out of missiles – with stockpiles expected to run out as soon as the end of this month or May, without significant resupply. This would open Ukraine’s skies to Russian airstrikes and shelling that have destroyed cities and infrastructure.
Speaking to reporters in Toronto ahead of his arrival in Washington on Wednesday for talks with Austin, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmikhal downplayed the danger, expressing optimism that Ukraine would get the new stockpile of Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles it needs.
“Our air defense system will be very effective,” Shmyhal told Canada’s CTV. “We’ll have all the equipment.”
Although the leaked information is more detailed, Ukraine and its allies have been publicly warning that Ukrainian air defenses are in dire need of resupply.
John Seaver, a former senior CIA official and Russia expert, said that while the leak of classified information was “despicable,” he didn’t think it would actually hurt Ukraine’s war effort. He said the intelligence community’s most guarded and sensitive secrets don’t usually end up in Defense Department summaries the way the documents appear.
Since much of the information coming out of Russia appears to come from signals intelligence — the electronic monitoring of communications and weapons systems — “it’s really hard for Russia to change its procedures and equipment on the fly during a war,” Schiff said. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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