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The Pentagon is investigating after classified documents laying out details of Kyiv's NATO allies' support ahead of an expected counteroffensive were leaked online.
"We are aware of the reports of social media posts and the department is reviewing the matter," Sabrina Singh, Pentagon deputy press secretary, confirmed in a statement to Newsweek.
The documents appeared on social media, including Telegram and Twitter, but appear to have been "modified," The New York Times reported. This may "point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow," the report added, in what it described as a "significant breach of American intelligence in the effort to aid Ukraine."
The documents appear to show the U.S. and Ukrainian assessment of what Kyiv's forces would need for a long-touted counteroffensive, as it stood at the start of March.
U.S. government officials are working to have the documents removed from the internet, according to reports.
Newsweek has reached out to Ukraine's and Russia's defense ministries for comment via email.
Documents circulating online as of Friday morning show maps of Ukraine and charts breaking down equipment deliveries, training and other military considerations, with the period of the counteroffensive labeled as beginning in April. Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents.
Assessments around a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces in occupied territories have long hit the headlines. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last month that Russia's General Staff was "calculating" for a concerted push from Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously suggested counteroffensive operations could not get underway without key military aid. In the latest round of assistance, announced by the Defense Department on April 4, a senior defense official said the U.S. wished "to help Ukraine advance and hold its positions in what we expect will be a Ukrainian counteroffensive."
In late March, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested Ukraine could have a "very good chance of success" with counteroffensive operations. At the end of the month, Western-made main battle tanks rolled into Ukraine after they were promised back in January.
"I think we'll see an increase in fighting in the spring as the conditions for maneuver improve, and based on the things that we've done and continue to do," Austin told the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. "I think Ukraine will have a very good chance of success."
Ukraine is training 40,000 new soldiers for operations in the counteroffensive in the near future, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Moscow's forces may have taken military equipment from the occupied Crimean peninsula, moving it to other parts of southern Ukraine "out of fear of a Ukrainian counteroffensive," the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Thursday.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more