The Pentagon is investigating photos of documents with alleged classified military information of the USA and NATO on Ukraine that appear to have been leaked on social media, a Pentagon official told CNN.

CNN has reviewed some of the footage circulating on Twitter and Telegram, but is unable to verify whether it is authentic.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh would not comment on the authenticity of the documents, but said in a statement that the Defense Department “is aware (…) and looking into the matter.”

Kiev: “Bluffa, ashes in the eyes”

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on his Telegram channel that he believes the Russians are behind the alleged leak. Podoliak said the leaked documents are not authentic, “have nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans” and are based on “a large amount of fictional information,” he noted.

The emergence of the documents, whether genuine or not, has heightened interest in when Ukraine’s planned counterattack will begin and what, if anything, each side knows about the other’s preparations for it.

The New York Times, which first disclosed the Pentagon’s investigation into the leaks, reported that some of the snapshots of the documents circulating online described information that they could be useful to Russiasuch as how quickly the Ukrainians expend the ammunition used in US-supplied missile systems.

Podoliak, however, characterized the documents as a “bluff, ashes in the eyes”, and said that “if Russia really received real data about (Ukrainian) military preparations, it would hardly make them public”.

“Russia is looking for any way to take the ‘initiative in information’ by trying to influence Ukraine’s counterattack plans,” he argued.

“But these are just typical elements of the operational game of the Russian intelligence service and nothing more. It has nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans,” the Ukrainian official insisted.

Podoliak also pointed out that the Russian troops “will familiarize themselves” with Ukraine’s real plans (for a counterattack) “very soon”.

The Kremlin’s reaction

Asked for his part about the Twitter and Telegram leaks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN that “we do not have the slightest doubt about the direct or indirect involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.” “That level of participation is building up, building up gradually,” he observed. “We are monitoring this process. Well, of course, it makes the whole story more complicated, but cannot affect the final result of the “special operation” Peskov commented on the war in Ukraine.