Secret US, NATO War Plans Leaked; Classified Docs Detailing Help For Ukraine Posted Online

Classified documents detailing secret NATO and U.S. war plans to help Ukraine have leaked across social media channels, prompting the Pentagon to investigate.

The documents, which appeared on Twitter and Telegram, contained critical details about Washington and NATO's plans to help bolster Ukraine's army in preparation for its counteroffensive, including anticipated weapons shipments and troops and battalion strengths.

The leaked document mentioned field intelligence, including the Ukrainian army's expenditure rate of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and an expectation that Kyiv will likely launch its offensive in April. It also includes information about Ukrainian brigades, six of which are expected to have finished their training on March 31. Three other brigades are scheduled to finish their training and be ready for deployment by the end of April, as first reported by The New York Times.

Military analysts interviewed by the publication said that while the leaked documents appeared authentic, certain parts of the documents may have been modified by the Russians as part of its disinformation campaign.

"Whether these documents are authentic or not, people should take care with anything released by Russian sources," Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at Virginia-based research institute CNA, told the Times.

The modifications include overstating an estimate by the U.S. on the Ukrainian military's death toll and understating the number of Russian soldiers killed in combat. On one of the slides, the document said 16,000 to 17,500 Russian soldiers have been killed compared to 71,500 Ukrainian soldiers.

In comparison, the Pentagon has previously estimated that Russia has suffered about 200,000 deaths and injuries in the war, compared to Ukraine's 100,000. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) also tallies the number of Russian soldiers killed or missing in the war at between 60,000 and 70,000. Estimates from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine put Russia's losses at 176,630 as of Thursday.

The Pentagon has since launched an investigation into who may have been behind the leak. The Biden administration has also made efforts to remove the documents from social media platforms but has been unable to do so as of Thursday evening.