Top advisors of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have warned him against sharing classified military information with US President Joe Biden, as American officials fume about leaks exposing Ukraine war concerns, a report says.
In a report on Wednesday, The Washington Post said that Zelensky’s top advisers had voiced deep concern about Washington’s ability to keep sensitive secrets regarding Kiev’s military might and its war plans in September ahead of his trip to the White House and meeting with Biden.
“Don’t share anything with Biden you don’t want on the front page of The Washington Post,” an adviser warned Zelensky during a pre-trip meeting, according to a person familiar with the conversation, the report said.
The report, citing sources, added that US officials were incensed at the leaks of secret intelligence detailing their assessments and concerns about the war in Ukraine since January.
“We were blindsided and furious,” an unnamed US official told the Post, speaking about the leaks that first appeared on the Discord messaging platform.
According to the report, the leak of classified US intelligence documents – purportedly by Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira – “revealed that, secretly, the United States harbored profound concerns about Ukraine’s prospects for success.”
Teixeira was arrested on April 13 on suspicion of divulging Pentagon’s classified documents to a group of gamers on the messaging app Discord. A day later, he was charged with two counts related to retrieving and distributing classified and national defense information.
It further said the leaked assessments prompted a group of Republicans to question whether US assistance to Ukraine was helpful, adding that the group – now turned into a “powerful bloc” – has blocked the US administration’s $106 billion supplemental funding request.
The leaks contain photographs of about 50 highly classified documents that started circulating online, detailing secret intelligence on various challenges faced by the US, including the war in Ukraine.
According to what has so far been leaked, Zelensky is apparently interested in occupying Russian border villages and obtaining long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside the Russian Federation.
Kiev, however, strongly denies such claims.
In response to the leaks, the US Air Force announced on Monday that it would discipline 15 personnel after an inspector general investigation found officers in Teixeira’s unit had “failed to take proper action after becoming aware of his intelligence-seeking activities.”
Since Russia launched its special military operation in Donbas in February 2022, the US has led a Western coalition sending tens of billions of dollars in weaponry and munitions to Kiev.
However, Republicans are ever-more openly rejecting allocating more funding for the continuous arms and munitions shipments to Ukraine, casting doubt on Ukraine’s prospects for success as Kiev has failed to retake large swaths of occupied territory and break through Russian lines.
The war is described now as a stalemate since no side is likely to achieve a breakthrough. Furthermore, the war seems likely to be dominated by factors beyond the battlefield.
