The Defense Department is conducting a review of documents released on social media sites which seem to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign. Labeled secret and resembling daily updates that the U.S. military’s Joint Staff would typically produce, the documents were posted on sites like Twitter and are dated between Feb. 23 to March 1. They provide details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine, with more precise timelines and amounts than the U.S. generally provides publicly. However, some inaccuracies, including estimates of Russian troops deaths that are significantly lower than the numbers publicly stated by U.S. officials, have led some to question the documents’ authenticity.
The leak of classified data, if confirmed to any degree, raises questions about what other information about the Ukraine war – or any coming offensive – could be distributed. U.S. officials provided no clarity on the origin of the documents, their authenticity, or who was the first to post them online. Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, only confirmed that “we are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter.”
Despite some errors in the documents, if they were legitimate, U.S. officials believe there is little real intelligence value to the information, as it is mostly data that Russia would already know or could glean from the battlefield. The charts and graphs describe some battlefield status of both sides from a month ago, U.S. military movements during the previous 24 hours, personnel numbers and the local weather outlook.
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