US scrambles to find source of leak of Ukraine war intel
The US Justice Department is launching an investigation into possible leaks of information related to Ukraine, China and the Middle East.
The United States is scrambling to uncover the source of a possible leak of highly classified documents that appear to reveal sensitive details about US allies, including Ukraine’s vulnerabilities in its war with Russia.
The Pentagon said on Sunday it had made a formal referral to the Justice Department asking it to investigate the apparent leak of the documents, which have been circulated on social media sites, including Twitter.
The documents, which appear to be non-public daily updates from the Joint Staff of the US Army, appear to contain intelligence pertaining to Ukraine, China, the Middle East and Africa.
The leak appears to show Washington spying on close US allies, including Ukraine, South Korea and Israel, a potentially embarrassing revelation for US President Joe Biden’s administration.
However, the documents seem to contain at least some errors, including battlefield casualty estimates that minimize Russian losses.
US officials have told Reuters news agency they have not ruled out the possibility that the documents were manipulated to conceal their origins or spread false information that could harm US security interests.
Ukraine’s presidential office has said the leaked documents contain a large amount of “fictitious information” and bear the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.
A document titled “Secret” and dated Feb. 23 details how Ukraine’s air defense systems are on track to run out of ammunition by May if they continue their stockpile searches at the current rate.
Another document claims that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency encouraged protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial reforms, which Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday were “without any foundation.”
In another document, senior South Korean officials are said to have spoken of coming under pressure from the US to supply arms to Ukraine, in violation of Seoul’s policy against exporting arms to countries in conflict.
A South Korean presidential official on Sunday acknowledged reports of the leaked documents and said he would raise the matter with Washington.