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The House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday asked the director of national intelligence's office (DNI) to use the U.S. intelligence community (IC) to help protect Ukrainians and declassify information related to the Russian invasion.
"The IC's unique capabilities afford it a powerful role in the response to Russia's actions. First and foremost, we urge the IC to lean forward in helping protect the lives of civilians and prevent even greater humanitarian suffering, all the while protecting sources and methods," a letter to the DNI read.
It added that "the IC should work diligently to declassify information related to Russia's planned or actual war crimes or other atrocities."
The request comes more than three weeks into the Russia-Ukraine war, which as of Sunday has resulted in more than 900 civilian deaths and nearly 1,500 injuries, according to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights' office.
The U.N. office said that it believes the actual numbers are "considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration."
The letter, which was dated Monday and directly addressed to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, said that the House Intelligence Committee believes it is "vital the IC continues maximizing intelligence sharing with our Ukrainian and international partners."
Update 03/22/22, 11:00 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and background.
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Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more