Five Damaging Claims from the Alleged Pentagon Leaks

The Pentagon is scrambling to contain the damage from an alleged intelligence leak that revealed Ukraine’s military vulnerabilities in its ongoing war with Russia as well as embarrassing claims regarding some of the United States’ closest allies.

At least some of the purportedly leaked material appears to come from the Joint Staff’s Directorate of Intelligence’s daily brief to the chairman, although it is supposedly compiled from various intelligence sources throughout the U.S. government.

A source told Breitbart News that the distribution of that daily brief — which is typically available digitally to thousands  — has been curtailed.

The Pentagon has claimed that some of the documents were altered, and have cautioned reporters against sharing their contents. In addition, officials from the United Kingdom, South Korea, Israel, Egypt, Ukraine, and Russia have all claimed the allegations in the documents are untrue.

Here are some of the most embarrassing claims gleaned from the alleged U.S. documents:

Ukraine’s Air Defense Munitions Are Running Low

According to one document dated February 28, Ukraine would run out of missiles for the S-300 and Buk air defense systems used to defend against air attacks by May 3 and April 13 respectively.

The purported shortages painted a dire picture for Ukraine’s front line troops, or “FLOT”:

[Ukraine’s] ability to provide medium range air defense to protect the FLOT will be completely reduced by May 23. [Ukraine] assessed to withstand 2-3 more wave strikes. As 1st Layer Defense munitions run out, 2nd and 3rd Layer expenditure rates will increase, reducing the ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks from all altitudes.

The Russian Air Force, which Russia has used sparingly in Ukraine, is largely intact and has been held at bay by Ukrainian air defense, but that could change if Ukraine’s air defenses are incapacitated.

Another document claimed to show that Russian fighter jets deployed to Ukraine outnumber Ukrainian jets by more than four to one: 485 Russian fighter jets compared to 85 Ukrainian fighter jets. In addition, Russia has 572 rotary-wing aircraft compared to Ukraine’s 107 rotary-wing aircraft.

Another document indicated that some of the Western-trained Ukrainian forces would not be fully trained and equipped until April 30. Of 12 combat brigades being assembled, nine would be ready by March 31 and three ready by April 30, it said.

American Special Operations Forces Are Deployed in Ukraine

According to another document dated March 23, the U.S. had 14 special operations forces in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden and other officials have implied that no U.S. forces would be sent to Ukraine.

Defense officials have acknowledged some troops are in Ukraine to keep track of weapons shipments, but have not gone into detail on who they were, and it is not clear if the special operations forces are the ones involved in those efforts.

According to the document, the United Kingdom has the largest deployment of special operations forces in Ukraine of the NATO allies, with 50 forces. Latvia was second with 17, France with 15, and the Netherlands with one.

The British government has denied the information was accurate.

The U.S. Is Spying on Allies and Partners

Some of the documents involve the U.S. relationship with its allies, allegedly revealing that Washington is spying on allies, including Israel, South Korea, and Egypt.

Citing signals intelligence — or electronic surveillance — one document marked “Top Secret” from March 1 claimed Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency was encouraging protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial system reforms. The document said, citing in part a March 1 purported “CIA Intel Update”:

In early to mid-February, Israeli Secret Intelligence Service (Mossad) leaders advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest against the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence.

Another document dated February 28 assessed ways the U.S. could pressure Israel to provide lethal aid to Ukraine.

Another document also citing signals intelligence showed that South Korean officials allegedly were worried about supplying the U.S. with weapons out of concern they would end up in Ukraine in contradiction with its policy, and that the country considered changing that policy or routing weapons to Poland for Ukraine.

Another document dated February 17, reported by the Washington Post, claimed that Egypt was planning to supply Russia with 40,000 rockets, artillery rounds, and gunpowder for Russia to use against Ukraine and keep it secret from the West to repay Russia for help earlier. The document cited discussions between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials.

Citing signals intelligence, one document said, according to the Post, the Wagner Group emissaries had secretly met in Turkey with Turkish contacts in February to discuss obtaining weapons and equipment for Russia, potentially by routing them through Mali. It was not clear whether the Turkish government was involved. Turkey has supplied weapons to Ukrainian forces.

A Pro-Russia Group Hacked a Canadian Gas Pipeline

According to the documents, a pro-Russia hacking group under the guidance of the Russian government, Zarya, hacked a Canadian gas pipeline company on February 25 in what might be the “first time” the U.S. intelligence community has observed a “pro-Russia-hacking group execute a disruptive attack against Western industrial control systems.”

The claim was reported by the New York Times.

“According to the Pentagon’s assessment, on Feb. 15, Zarya shared screenshots with the Federal Security Service — the main successor agency to the K.G.B., known by its Russian initials, F.S.B. — that purportedly showed that the attacker had the capability to increase valve pressure, disable alarms and make emergency shutdowns of an unspecified gas distribution station in Canada,” the paper reported.

A leaked document referenced a “near-shoot down” of a United Kingdom Rivet Joint reconnaissance plane back in September off the Crimean coast.

According to the document, a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet fired a missile that nearly took down the British spy plane, which would have been a direct confrontation between Russia and a NATO ally. At the time, United Kingdom Defense Minister Ben Wallace informed lawmakers that it was a “technical malfunction” but did not mention a near shootdown.