‘Secret’ documents detailing US and Nato’s Ukraine war plans are fake, presidential adviser says
- ‘(Russia’s) intelligence services have degenerated to the point where they can only rehabilitate themselves with fake information,’ a Ukrainian adviser tweeted
- The documents, circulating on Twitter and Telegram, described specifics about Kyiv’s preparations for a coming offensive against Russia
Kyiv says documents purporting to be classified information about Ukrainian preparations for a counteroffensive are fake, in response to a report by a US newspaper.
“Since the collapse of the USSR, the intelligence services have degenerated to the point where they can only rehabilitate themselves with Photoshop and ‘fake information dumps’,” Ukrainian presidential office adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.
He said that Moscow was trying to disrupt Ukraine’s counteroffensive but that instead, Kiev’s plans would soon be seen on the ground.
His tweet came after The New York Times published details about the leak of supposedly secret documents saying a Ukrainian counteroffensive was to be completed by April 30.
The documents claimed Kyiv had prepared 60,000 soldiers with more than 250 tanks and more than 350 armoured vehicles.
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One document appeared to detail the expenditure rates of HIMARS artillery systems provided by the US, information that has been a closely guarded secret, while another described the state of a dozen Ukrainian combat brigades, including their equipment and dates for when they might be ready to take on Russian forces, the Times noted.
The documents are still circulating on Twitter and Telegram.
“We are aware of the reports of social media posts and the department is reviewing the matter,” a Pentagon spokesperson told the Times earlier on Friday.
Experts did caution that the documents, while seemingly authentic, may have been altered for propaganda purposes.
One slide, purportedly from a presentation, provided an estimate for Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine – as many as 17,500, it states – that is well below the figure Western governments have cited publicly.
“They’ve obviously been doctored,” Michael Weiss, a Russia expert and senior correspondent at Yahoo News, posted on social media. “Still bad that they were leaked – or stolen.”
