Leaked documents expose US-NATO Ukraine war plans – The Grayzone

Classified Pentagon documents containing information about US and NATO plans for a Ukrainian offensive and key details of the ongoing war have leaked.

Update: We have added a leaked Defense Intelligence Agency document at the end of this article outlining potential scenarios in which Israel would provide Ukraine with lethal weapons.

The New York Times has reported "a significant breach of American intelligence in the effort to aid Ukraine" through the leak of classified documents which have been shared on social media.

The Times writes, "Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed. The modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow, the analysts said The analysts warned that documents released by Russian sources could be selectively altered to present the Kremlin's disinformation.”

Neither the New York Times nor the "Military analysts" it cited explain how the documents were altered, or why they have the appearance of tampering.

Because the leaked documents have arrived in the form of photographs of printed documents, rather than original files, the possibility of forgery or alteration must be considered.

The leaked documents claim that Russia has sustained troop losses ranging from 16,000 to 17,500 while Ukrainian losses amount to as many as 71,500 – a staggering differential that stands at odds with the triumphalist narrative projected by Kiev.

Perhaps the most notable piece of information contained in the leaked documents relates to military death tolls, with Ukrainian and Russian losses estimated at about a 4:1 ratio.

Another key detail in the documents pertains to the size of the front lines in Donetsk: Russia maintains 91 battalions in the "Donetsk axis" with around 23,000 total personnel, while Ukraine maintains eight brigades and 40 battalions, with 10,000 to 20,000 total personnel.

The documents also outline expectations of weapons deliveries to Ukraine from the US and other NATO countries along with training schedules for Ukrainian forces as a Spring counteroffensive approaches.

While the documents distributed on Telegram contain important details about NATO and Ukrainian military capacity, and highlight the astounding depth of American involvement in the war, their publication raises a number of questions.

Ukraine and its Western patrons may have more serious problems than a few leaked documents.