By Athena Papakosta

THE leak of classified documents constitutes a very serious risk to the security of the United States, the Pentagon estimates. The documents are shown to contain sensitive information regarding the war in Ukraine as well as China, intelligence material on allies of the United States and security issues for the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region.

According to officials files are similar in format with those issued to senior executives. An investigation is currently underway to determine how and what the source of the leak is.

The confidential documents – some of which may have been modified – appeared to be circulating on the Internet and on platforms such as Twitter, 4chan and Telegram as well as the Discord messaging platform in the Minecraft video game. Speaking to reporters a senior US Pentagon official said the files in question pose “a very serious risk to the country’s national security and can potentially fuel disinformation”.

Chris Meagher, an assistant to the US defense secretary, stressed that “steps are being taken to take a closer look at how this type of information was shared and with whom.” When asked about the authenticity of the documents, he replied that some had allegedly been altered. The US Department of Justice, the Pentagon and the White House are participating in the ongoing investigation.

For the Pentagon leak updated last week. In particular, the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, became aware of the leak last Thursday, April 6. Meetings followed to assess the leak and the damage caused by it, to control who had access to this information, and to inform US allies.

At the White House, when National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked about the possibility of additional new leaks, he said, “We don’t know,” adding, “Whether that’s a concern of ours?” Of course yes”. At the same time, he also confirmed that “at the moment we do not know who is behind this or what is the motive (of the leak)”. As far as the authenticity of the files is concerned, John Kirby also admitted that attempts are being made to check their validity as well as that some of them have been modified.

At least one of these documents refers to casualties in the Ukraine war and concerns both Russian and Ukrainian warring sides. However, estimates of Russian military casualties are much lower than the numbers publicly shared by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff last November. In more detail while Mark Miley had stated that Russia had lost at least 100,000 troops in Ukraine, the file and the “Total Estimated Losses” section lists up to 17,500 casualties on the Russian side and up to 71,000 casualties on the Ukrainian side.

The documents are classified classified and top secret and in some cases look like the usual briefings that the US Army General Staff will compile but not release. Some of them are marked Noforn, which means that they should not be handed over to foreigners, while as reported by the British The Guardian, these have been printed, folded so that each of them fits, for example, in a pocket before they are photographed and “uploaded” to Internet.

The timing of the leak of this sensitive material is critical as Kiev prepares for a counterattack aimed at changing the dynamics on the battlefield. The adviser to Ukraine’s president, Mykhailo Podoliak, said the country’s strategic plans remain unchanged but “operational and tactical scenarios are constantly being refined based on the assessment of the situation on the battlefield.” For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to questions, described the leaks as “very interesting” and replied that “there is a tendency to always blame Russia for everything” rejecting the possibility that Moscow bears responsibility.

It is the largest leak of US intelligence since the start of the war in Ukraine more than 14 months ago. The most recent leaked documents date back to early March. The Pentagon referred the matter to the Department of Justice, which has begun an investigation to identify the source of the leak.