A leak of classified documents detailing secret US and NATO plans to help Kyiv looks like a Russian disinformation operation intended to sow doubts about Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive, a Ukrainian presidential official says.
Key points:
- Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive around the eastern city of Bakhmut soon
- Kyiv says Russia is putting out disinformation to seize back the initiative in its invasion
- Authorities in Russian-controlled areas say seven civilians were killed in Ukrainian artillery strikes
Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters that the leaked data reported by The New York Times contained a “very large amount of fictitious information”, and said Russia was trying to seize back the initiative in its invasion.
“These are just standard elements of operational games by Russian intelligence. And nothing more,” he said in a written statement.
Reuters was not immediately able to review the leaked documents.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that the Pentagon was investigating how documents detailing plans to build up the Ukrainian military for a planned offensive had been posted on social media channels this week.
“Russia is looking for any ways to seize back the initiative,” Mr Podolyak said.
“To try to influence the scenarios for Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans. To introduce doubts, to compromise the … ideas, and finally to intimidate [us] with how ‘informed’ they are.”
Ukrainian troops have for months faced a Russian onslaught in its east, concentrated around the city of Bakhmut.
It hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months to wrest back territory held by Russia.
The Times report said the documents appeared to have been modified in certain parts.
One part offered an estimate for Ukrainian military losses that was far higher than Western estimates made available so far.
Ukraine does not disclose the scale of its losses, and is very sensitive about the subject.
Russian forces likely threaten Bakhmut supply line, UK says
Russian forces have very likely seized Bakhmut’s city centre, and are threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces to the west, British intelligence says.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday his troops would pull back from the small city, which has been the main focus of Russia’s assault on Ukraine for months, if they came under risk of encirclement.
Asked to comment on the British report, a Ukrainian military command spokesman told Reuters the situation was difficult in Bakhmut, and that Russian forces were concentrating all their efforts to take the city but were not having “strategic success”.
The battle for Bakhmut, one of the last urban centres in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province yet to fall to Russian forces, has proven one of the bloodiest of the war.
Donetsk is one of four provinces in eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia declared annexed last year and is seeking to fully occupy, in what appears to be a shift in its war aims after failing to overrun the country in the early days of its invasion.
Friday’s daily update from British military intelligence contrasted with its usual emphasis on Ukrainian successes.
“Russia has made further gains and has now highly likely advanced into the town centre, and has seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River. Ukraine’s key 0506 supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened,” it said.
However, Eastern Military Command spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi said Ukraine controlled the situation in Bakhmut and understood Russian intentions.
“The situation is difficult, the enemy is concentrating maximum efforts to capture Bakhmut. However it is suffering serious losses and not reaching strategic success,” Mr Cherevatyi said by telephone, without elaborating.
Western analysts say both sides are losing large numbers of troops in the battle for Bakhmut, where Moscow has says it has taken control of parts of the city centre.
Ukraine has said it is continuing to fight there to wear down Russian forces before its coming counteroffensive bolstered by advanced Western-supplied weapons.
A former regional transport and logistics hub now largely in ruins, Bakhmut would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk province: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russia says seven civilians killed in artillery strikes
Millions of Ukrainians have fled the conflict since Russia’s invasion, which has laid waste to many towns and cities and killed thousands of civilians.
Authorities in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine said seven civilians were killed on Thursday in two separate Ukrainian artillery strikes, Russian news agencies reported.
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian side, which regularly reports civilian casualties from artillery and air strikes on its energy infrastructure.
Both sides deny targeting civilians.
The Kremlin says it will not consider peace in Ukraine unless Kyiv accepts the loss of the territories Russia has annexed.
Ukraine says it poses no threat to Russia and there can be no negotiations until Russia withdraws all its forces.
Türkiye is concerned about the potential intensification of the conflict in the spring, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Ankara.
Mr Lavrov reiterated that Russia’s security concerns were being ignored by the West and said its interests must be taken into account.
Asked if he would meet with US secretary of state Antony Blinken at the United Nations headquarters, Mr Lavrov said Moscow would never refuse serious proposals for dialogue.
ABC/Reuters