U.S. Admits To Providing Intel on Russian Assets to Ukraine

On May 4, The New York Times revealed that the U.S. was providing classified Russian asset targeting intelligence to the Ukrainian military. While it’s not surprising that the military would provide an ally with information about Russian troop movements, publicly admitting it is a dangerous mistake.

The anonymous U.S. officials who spoke to the Times did not say how many Russians were killed thanks to American intel. But it’s unlikely that Ukrainians could have killed a dozen Russian generals without assistance. In an attempt to downplay the disclosure, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said U.S. battlefield intelligence was not provided to the Ukrainians “with the intent to kill Russian generals.” Is that technicality supposed to placate Russian President Vladimir Putin?

The intelligence leak also revealed that U.S. information sharing was happening in “real time” and was not limited to Russian troop movement across Ukraine’s contested Donbas region, where the population leans pro-Russian.