In February, just before the first anniversary of her invasion Russia in Ukraine, officials in Kyiv planned to attack Russia, according to the Washington Post.

Major General Kirill Budanov, head of the country’s military intelligence service, HUR, instructed one of his officers to “prepare for massive strikes on February 24 (…) with everything HUR had,” according to a classified HUR report by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). ).

Officials even considered the scenario of a TNT strike on the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, an operation that would demonstrate Ukraine’s ability to strike deep into the enemy.

According to the report, U.S. officials secretly followed the Ukrainian plans. “The White House has long feared that attacks inside Russia could provoke an aggressive response from the Kremlin,” WP notes.

On February 22, two days before the anniversary of the invasion, a classified CIA report noted that the HUR “agreed, at Washington’s request, to delay strikes” on Moscow.

The documents were part of a set of classified information allegedly leaked to the game server by a 21-year-old member of the National Guard.

On February 13, the day the NSA document said Budanov had ordered one of his officers to stand ready for an operation that could target Novorossiysk, the US publicly reaffirmed its directive to Americans in Russia to leave the country immediately. It’s unclear if the warning was related to fears of an aggressive strike from Ukraine, but “it appears to reflect Washington’s concerns about the anniversary attacks.”

According to an American newspaper, Ukraine is ready to take the fighting to Russian territory, and it is sometimes held back by the United States, trying to avoid an escalation of the conflict.