A US intelligence official has said that a new batch of classified documents “that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China” had appeared on Twitter and other websites on Friday, The New York Times reports.
According to analysts, over 100 documents have been leaked.
US officials have said that the leak could be “hugely damaging”.
NYT notes that one of the leaked slides dated 23 February is labelled “Secret/NoForn”, which means that it is not to be shared with foreign nations.
The US Justice Department has announced an investigation into the leaks and is working together with the Pentagon on the issue, however, they did not provide any further comments.
According to CNN, the documents seem to have contained classified information on a variety of topics: PMC Wagner operations in Africa, the ways for Israel to hand over lethal weapons to Ukraine, intelligence on the ties between the United Arab Emirates and Russia, as well as South Korea’s concerns about providing ammunition to the US for use in Ukraine.
One of the people NYT talked to called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes”. NYT specifies that they meant the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada — the five countries who often share intelligence with each other.
Former senior Pentagon official Mick Mulroy says that the leak of the documents represents “a significant breach in security” that could have a negative influence on Ukrainian military planning.
“As many of these were pictures of documents, it appears that it was a deliberate leak done by someone that wished to damage the Ukraine, US, and NATO efforts,” he explained.
Yesterday, 7 April, NYT reported that the Pentagon was investigating a leak of classified war documents detailing US and NATO plans “for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia” to social media.
These documents appeared on Twitter and Telegram this week. They include information on arms supply, number of troops, and other plans.
In particular, there is information about 12 combat brigades, nine of which could be trained and supplied by the US and other NATO allies. According to the documents, six out of nine brigades will be ready by 31 March and the rest by 30 April. Experts estimate that each brigade counts around 4,000-5,000 soldiers. In total, over 250 tanks and 350 mechanised vehicles are needed for these brigades.
At the same time, there is no indication in the documents as to when and how Ukraine plans to start the offensive. Moreover, the majority of information is only relevant as of 1 March.
