Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said on Friday that the leak of secret documents detailing secret US and NATO plans to help Kiev is a Russian disinformation operation aimed at sowing doubt about Ukraine’s planned counteroffensive.

Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters that the leaks reported by the New York Times contained “a very large amount of fabricated information” and that Russia was trying to regain the initiative in the war.

“These are just standard elements of operational games of Russian intelligence. And nothing more,” Podoliak said in a written statement.

Reuters says it was not immediately able to review the leaked documents.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the Pentagon is investigating how documents were released on social media this week detailing plans to strengthen the Ukrainian military for a planned counteroffensive this spring.

Russia wants to take the initiative into its own hands

“Russia is looking for any way to take the initiative again,” Podolyak said.

“To try to influence the scenarios of Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans. To introduce doubts, to compromise… ideas, and in the end to intimidate (us) with how “informed” they are, – cut off Podolyak.

For several months now, Ukrainian troops have been facing a Russian attack in the east of the country, where they are concentrated around the city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months to retake territory seized by Russia.

The documents have been changed

In an article published on Friday, the NYT said the documents appeared to have been altered in some places, and experts consulted by the US publication suggested they would be used for Russian propaganda.

Some of the documents contained an estimate of Ukrainian military casualties that was much higher than Western estimates available so far, while Russian casualties were lower than British estimates.

Ukraine does not disclose the size of its losses and is very sensitive to this topic.

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