The leaked US documents providing insight into the war in Ukraine show how far “the Americans have penetrated Russian government organizations.” So says Peter Wijninga, defense specialist at The Hague Center for Strategic Studies.
The documents appeared on social media last week. The documents mention, among other things, American insights into the war and information that has been gathered at the diplomatic level. The Bloomberg news agency also states that the documents contain ‘real-time information’ about the Russian military operation.
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That information is painful for Russia, says Wijninga. But the leak is also painful for the United States. “If the Russians can determine how the Americans got that information, they can also take countermeasures. Then the well of the Americans can dry up. That is very harmful, because then you will feel more in the dark.’
“If the details of the Pentagon become public in such detail, something serious is going on”
At first it was thought that the leak was caused by Russia. In the first leaked documents, adjustments had been made in the number of deaths on the Russian side and the Ukrainian side, which benefited Russia. But now it is suspected that the leak is on the American side.
Research group Bellingcat describes that the documents only made the news when they were distributed by pro-Russian Telegram groups, but the documents could already be found online long before that. For example, Bellingcat was able to find documents that had already been shared in early March in a Discord channel that talked about a Filipino YouTuber. But according to the research group, it is possible that documents were shared much earlier.
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‘Something serious going on’
Foreign affairs commentator Bernard Hammelburg notes that the United States now fears for “national security.” “If the details of the Pentagon get out in that detail, then something serious is going on.” White House spokesman John Kirby confirms that Americans are concerned: “We don’t know who is responsible for this. And we don’t know if they have more (documents, ed.) that they plan to publish. That is certainly a matter of concern for us.’
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