Leaked US, NATO documents – ‘a serious disunity within the West’

Evidently, China is closely watching the developing situation around Ukraine… Expert’s opinions at ‘Global Times’ are very frank – they are signalling the core assessment that the endgame has begun for the US’ proxy war — with dissent building up within US, European allies losing conviction in the ‘raison d’être’ of the proxy war and Kyiv is in serious disarray & military crumbling.

The recent leak of classified US and NATO documents on the Ukrainian military and Kiev's much-anticipated "spring counteroffensive" has exposed that disunity, distrust and divergences among the US, the West and Ukraine are serious and keep worsening, Chinese experts said. They noted that the incident further proves that Washington is the biggest obstacle for the international community to promote a cease-fire and peace talks for the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

According to US media, the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the leak that was posted on social media in recent weeks.

CNN reported that the investigation comes as new documents surfaced Friday covering everything from US support for Ukraine to information about key US allies like Israel, widening the fallout from the already alarming leak. The Pentagon said it was looking into the matter after social media posts of apparently classified documents on the war in Ukraine had emerged.

"They look real," a US official told CNN about the leaked documents. CNBC News also reported that the documents that appeared online "are likely real" and "the result of a leak," but that some of the documents may have been altered before they were posted, a senior US official said on Saturday.

A Chinese expert on international security and intelligence who asked for anonymity told the Global Times that "the leak is unlikely caused by Russian intelligence agencies, because this does not make sense."

If Russia has obtained these classified documents, it would not post them online, because this will make Russia lose the source or sources that had provided these documents, he said. He noted that there is no reason for Russia to let its enemies know that it has obtained this intelligence, because this will also make its enemies change plans, making the hard-won military intelligence useless.

The leak, the source of which remains unknown, reveals the US' assessment of a Ukrainian military that is itself in dire straits, The New York Times reported. The leaked material, from late February and early March but found on social media sites in recent days, outlines "critical shortages of air defense munitions" and discusses "the gains being made by Russian troops around the eastern city of Bakhmut."

Whether the leak is real or not, they have wrought damage on Kiev. Even if these documents contain fictitious information, they will damage the morale of the Ukrainian military and the confidence of Western countries in continuing to support Kiev to win the fight against Moscow. The response of the Ukrainian official shows that Kiev is nervous, and the US investigation proves the incident is very serious, experts said.

The above-quoted anonymous expert said that it is still a question that who leaked these documents online, but based on the reactions of the relevant parties, it was probably caused by the disunity within the US. "Democrats and Republicans have long-existing divergences on the price that Washington should pay for supporting Kiev to fight Moscow. Many US policymakers are losing faith to completely defeat Moscow, so they might want to use the leak to ruin the existing plan of supporting Ukraine and to decrease the US inputs in the new plan," he noted.

The incident will also damage ties between the US and its allies around the globe. Countries that have military cooperation with the US will be worried that the US is unable to keep their secrets and will even spy on them and leak their secrets to the media or online.

The New York Times reported that the leaked intelligence reports seem to indicate that "the United States is also spying on Ukraine's top military and political leaders, a reflection of Washington's struggle to get a clear view of Ukraine's fighting strategies."

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