By Athena Papakosta

More and more new evidence is coming to light about the contents of classified United States documents that almost a week ago were revealed to have been leaked online for at least a month by an as-yet-unknown source with Washington still trying to to bring together the incomparable.

What do these documents include?

The leaked United States documents are classified and some of them are classified as top secret. We don’t know the exact number, but analysts say there are at least a hundred classified US documents circulating on the Internet.

These include information on the military strength of Ukraine as well as the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces. Information is offered about the lack of ammunition, the weakness of the Ukrainian air defense and the inadequacy of Ukrainian training, while the Pentagon’s doubts about the success of the Ukrainian counterattack are also expressed. Allegations are also being revealed that members of British special forces operated in the country alongside colleagues from Latvia, France, the US and the Netherlands.

At the same time, they also focus on Moscow’s operational capabilities, even providing sensitive information such as under what conditions Russian President Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons. In addition, they confirm the penetration of American intelligence services into the Russian military, which means that Washington can warn Kiev of impending attacks or even obtain vital information about the strength of the Russian military apparatus.

Analysts say the documents even include intelligence-gathering methods from the United States that allegedly closely monitor how its allies and partners interact with Moscow and Beijing – evidence that points to US spying on other countries and even its allies.

These documents reveal that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi allegedly drew up a plan to produce and ship up to 40,000 rockets to Russia. Meanwhile, other leaks concern claims that South Korea was afraid of the US moving its weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as this would be a violation of Seoul’s policy of not selling any weapons to warring countries. Another document also says that the leadership of the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, encouraged both members of the agency and ordinary citizens to protest against the controversial reform of the judicial system in Israel.

How did the leak happen?

No one knows for sure. However, the leak is believed to have originated from the Discord messaging platform used by online game players in early March. In one of the messaging groups, users were arguing about the war in Ukraine. At some point a post was allegedly made which included sensitive information. This information then “traveled” to other online platforms by early April. Among them is the messaging, video and photo exchange platform Telegram, with documents being circulated on pro-Russian communication channels by military bloggers.

By April 7, they had already appeared on the popular Twitter and Reddit platforms. However, nothing has been officially confirmed with the United States Department of Justice having opened a criminal investigation into the leak. For their part, some security experts suspect that the person who “aired the laundry” of the US in the forum could not be ruled out to be an American citizen as some documents were marked “for the information of Americans only” without excluding pro-Russian actors.

Washington’s response

This is the worst breach of US national security in years, and right now efforts are being made in Washington to find the source of the evil and to assess the extent of the damage.

The Pentagon is not releasing any information from the ongoing investigation. What has become known and broadcast by foreign Media and international news agencies is that the number of people participating or receiving updates on the matter has been limited.

The country’s defense and foreign ministers, Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken, are on the phones to reassure allies and partners after the leak. No one confirms, nor denies, the contents of the documents. Speaking to their Ukrainian counterparts, they reiterated continued US support for Kiev and underlined how “seriously” Washington was taking the leak.

“We will continue the investigation until we find the source and determine the extent of the damage,” said the country’s defense minister, Lloyd Austin.

What are we waiting for next?

In addition to answers, we may also expect new revelations within the next few days. Already, the latest evidence that has come to light concerns, for example, Serbia, which, although it did not agree to provide training to the Ukrainian armed forces, allegedly pledged to send weapons or has already sent them to Ukraine, a fact which Belgrade denies. Accordingly, late last night it “came out” that the Biden administration considers that Antonio Guterres is quite “willing” to serve Russian interests with the British BBC noting that the files show that the UN Secretary General was under American surveillance.

In Kiev, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stressed that the leaks contain a mix of true and false information about the Ukrainian military while trying to downplay their negative impact. At the same time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the “treasure trove” of documents must be false without ruling out an attempt to disorient Moscow.

While the tangle of revelations is still unraveling, it remains a question of when and how it will end. What is certain is that Washington is in a very difficult position with analysts wondering if what journalists have dubbed the Pentagon Leaks could be only “the tip of the iceberg”.