The US Justice Department has launched an investigation into the potential leak of confidential Pentagon documents on social media platforms that detail US and NATO aid to Ukraine. However, there is a possibility that the documents have been altered or used for misinformation purposes, according to some US officials. On Friday, a spokesperson for the Justice Department stated, “We have been in communication with the Department of Defence related to this matter and have begun an investigation. We decline further comment.” Additionally, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh confirmed that an internal review was in progress.
Three anonymous US officials, speaking to Reuters news agency, suggested that the leak may have originated from Russia or pro-Russian elements. The documents, dated from February 23, 2023, to March 1, 2023, are marked as secret and appear to provide more specific details on the delivery of weapons and equipment to Ukraine than those made publicly available by the US.
However, the anonymous US officials have questioned the validity of the documents, suggesting that the numbers may have been altered to downplay Russian casualties. One of the documents, posted on social media, suggested that there had been 16,000 to 17,500 Russian casualties since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In contrast, US authorities had previously estimated that around 200,000 Russians had been killed or wounded.
Despite concerns, Ukrainian officials have played down the idea that the military intelligence has been compromised. “It is very important to remember that in recent decades, the Russian special services’ most successful operations have been taking place in Photoshop,” stated Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate. He further added that the materials contained “false, distorted figures on losses on both sides, with part of the information collected from open sources.”
Similarly, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that the documents contained “a very large amount of fictitious information” and resembled “a Russian disinformation operation to sow doubts about Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive.” Separately, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office released a statement on Friday about his meeting with senior military staff, noting that “the participants of the meeting focused on measures to prevent the leakage of information regarding the plans of the defence forces of Ukraine.”
