The Pentagon documents on the war in Ukraine that leaked on social media remained at the top of the news cycle on Sunday. A new analysis by the New York Times seemed to confirm their veracity: it cited Western officials’ “concern” about the leak and the risk that Moscow can now better identify where U.S. intelligence is getting information about its attack plans from. Indeed, the files reveal the level of U.S. “infiltration” into various Russian agencies. They also seem to show that Washington spies on its own allies: the documents mention South Korea’s internal debate over whether to provide aid to Ukraine.
Most importantly, it seems to be confirmed that this is the result of a genuine internal leak within the U.S. government: in addition to the Justice Department’s publicly announced investigation, the NYT cites sources within the administration who speak of a “massive intelligence breach” of secret information from the intelligence community, and who say that the documents appear to have come from the Pentagon itself. It’s possible, however, that they might have been tampered with: “At least one” of the documents “has been altered,” the New York Times writes, again based on statements from anonymous sources inside the administration.
Meanwhile, Kyiv continues to point the finger at Russia: presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Telegram that “the aim of secret data ‘leaks’ is obvious: divert attention, cast doubts & mutual suspicions, sow discord.” He attributed the operation to Moscow’s intelligence services, claiming that the modus operandi – inserting false elements into accessible information and spreading it on social media – is unquestionably theirs.
On the Russian front, Sunday was the day of the funeral of blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, killed in an attack last week in a St. Petersburg cafe. Al Jazeera reported that the ceremony, in Moscow’s Troyekurovskoya cemetery, drew hundreds of people and impressive security measures. Some of those present wore the letters associated with the Russian aggression against Ukraine: Z and V. The ceremony was also attended by the leader and founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who reportedly laid “an axe of some kind” on Tatarsky’s coffin and issued a statement praising him for contributing to the “destruction of the enemy.”
On Ukrainian territory, the “destruction” praised by Prigozhin was particularly evident in Donetsk: the head of the Ukrainian military administration in the region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, reported that Russian attacks on Sunday claimed four civilian casualties.
One piece of good news, however, was the restoration of the country’s energy infrastructure: the BBC reports that Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has signed an executive order authorizing the resumption of electricity exports from Ukraine, showing that the country has managed to repair its infrastructure, which has been subjected to targeted attacks by Kremlin forces – as many as 1,200 since the start of the war, according to Ukrainian power grid operator Ukrenergo. The latter, however, also urges people not to be under any illusions: Russian attacks against infrastructure will not stop.
Another piece of good news was reported by the Save Ukraine organization: 31 Ukrainian children have reportedly been reunited with their families after being abducted in Russian-occupied territories.
Also on Sunday came the announcement that the border between Ukraine and Belarus are being reinforced: the “expansion of the system of engineering barriers” is underway, according to Lt. Gen. Serhiy Nayev, commander of the joint forces of Ukraine’s armed forces. “Anti-tank minefields are being created in tank accessible areas and probable paths of pushing the enemy deep into our territory which are roads, forest lanes, bridges, power lines, etc.”
