Alleged Pentagon Leaks: Biden Administration Worried That Ukraine Will Attack Russia

President Joe Biden’s administration fears that a Ukrainian attack on Russian territory could escalate the war and drag the United States into a direct conflict with Russia, according to a report citing documents from last month’s alleged Pentagon leak.

United States military officials have had to prevent Ukraine’s military forces from levying attacks on Russian territory at times in fear of retaliation, the Washington Post’s Shane Harris and Isabelle Khurshudyan reported Monday, referencing documents from the alleged Pentagon leak purportedly carried out by former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira:

Ukraine, eager to bring the fight to Russia’s home turf, is sometimes restrained by the United States, which has tried to avoid escalating the conflict into a direct fight between U.S. and Russian forces. Some U.S. officials see attacks on Russia, particularly if they involve U.S.-supplied weapons, as highly risky operations that Russian President Vladimir Putin could find so threatening that he resorts to using tactical nuclear weapons.

Numerous foreign governments “have denied the authenticity of at least some of the information in the documents or called the documents themselves counterfeit,” as Breitbart News reported. At the same time, Pentagon officials have labeled some of the allegedly leaked papers as “doctored” without specifying a quantity.

One such example of U.S. restraint alleged in the papers reportedly occurred in February, according to the Post:

Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the country’s military intelligence directorate, the HUR, instructed one of his officers “to get ready for mass strikes on 24 February … with everything the HUR had,” according to a classified report from the U.S. National Security Agency. Officials even mused about a sea-based strike using TNT in the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, a largely symbolic operation that would nevertheless demonstrate Ukraine’s ability to hit deep inside enemy territory.

 

Another allegedly classified document, which supposedly originated from the CIA two days before the allegedly planned anniversary attack, stated that Ukraine “had agreed, at Washington’s request, to postpone strikes,” per the Post. Details surrounding the alleged U.S. request and HUR agreement are not clear, though Harris and Khurshudyan reported that U.S. officials had been covertly surveilling Ukraine’s alleged scheme.

WATCH: Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger on Biden Downplaying Leak: Any Leak Is “Completely” Bad, Damaging to Have Leaks of Assessments of Other Nations:

The report comes as Ukraine prepares to launch a counter-offensive against Russia, the outcome of which could pose a political nightmare for Biden with those who want heightened U.S. involvement in Ukraine as well as those who want an end to the war, Politico reported: