Ukraine changes military plans due to leaked classified Pentagon documents

Ukraine has already changed some of its military plans due to the leak of classified US documents.

Source: CNN citing sources 

Details: The news outlet notes that secret Pentagon documents posted online in recent weeks show how the United States is spying on both allies and adversaries, which has deeply concerned American officials who fear that the revelations could jeopardise sensitive sources and compromise important international relations.

Some of the original documents expose the extent of US wiretapping of key allies, including South Korea, Israel, and Ukraine.

Others reveal the extent of US penetration of the Russian Defence Ministry and the Russian Wagner PMC, largely through intercepted communications and human sources that could now be cut off or jeopardised.

Others expose key weaknesses in Ukrainian weapons, air defence, battalion strength and readiness at a critical point in the war, when Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians, and just as the United States and Ukraine have begun to develop a more trusting intelligence-sharing relationship.

Ukraine has already changed some of its military plans because of the leak, a source close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN.

The Pentagon has made an "interagency effort" to assess the impact of the leak, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Sunday.

"The Department of Defense continues to review and assess the validity of the photographed documents that are circulating on social media sites and that appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material," Singh said in a statement. "An interagency effort has been stood up, focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our Allies and partners."

Singh added that US officials spoke with allies and partners over the weekend regarding the leak, and informed "relevant congressional committees."

According to officials, the leak has also forced the Pentagon to take steps to tighten control over the flow of such top-secret documents, usually available to hundreds of people in the government.

The Joint Staff, which consists of the Department of Defense's top military leaders who advise the president, is examining its mailing lists to find out who is receiving the data, one defence official said.

Many of the documents are marked to indicate that they were prepared by the Joint Staff's intelligence unit, known as J2, and appear to be briefing documents.

Singh said on Friday that the department was continuing to look into the matter and had referred it to the Justice Department, which separately confirmed to CNN that it had launched an investigation into the source of the leak.

Background:

• On 6 April, The New York Times reported that classified military documents detailing US and NATO plans to build up the Ukrainian army ahead of a planned counteroffensive had been leaked on Twitter and Telegram.
• Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, called the leaked materials "photoshopped" and joked about the deterioration in Russian intelligence. US officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Russia or pro-Russian elements were behind the leak of several classified US military documents posted on social media that allegedly showed preparations for Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive.
• Later, a new batch of classified documents appeared on social media, allegedly detailing US national security secrets regarding Ukraine, the Middle East, and China.
• On 9 April, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the leak of a huge number of US intelligence documents that have been posted on social media in recent weeks.
• Bellingcat investigators found that the recently posted US classified documents on the war in Ukraine were shared on 1 and 2 March on a Discord server called WowMao, but the original source perhaps even earlier.

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