Farmers In Romania, Bulgaria Protest Over Glut Of Ukrainian Grain …
Ukraine and Russia continue to slug it out in the area of the eastern city of Bakhmut, with the Ukrainian military saying that "more than 40" Russian attacks had occurred along the front in the last 24 hours. At the same time, the U.S. government is investigating the leak of documents including details of U.S. and NATO plans to provide military aid for a possible Ukrainian offensive in the coming weeks. Fighting was reported around Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka, Ukraine's General Staff said in its daily briefing early on April 7, describing the clashes as "fierce."
RFE/RL is not able to independently verify battlefield information. Aerial photographs of Maryinka posted on Twitter by the Kyiv Post showed massive devastation in the town that was once home to some 10,000 people before Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. Russian media claimed a Ukrainian pilot was being held in the western Bryansk region after crashing his jet on Russian territory.
A spokesman for the Bryansk regional court told the state-controlled TASS news agency that the unidentified pilot would be charged with illegally crossing Russia's border. U.S. Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said late on April 6 that Washington is looking into the appearance on social media of leaked documents containing details of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, as well as battalion strengths and other sensitive information.
"We are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the department is reviewing the matter," Singh said. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the authenticity of the documents. A leak of such sensitive material is highly unusual and would automatically trigger an investigation.
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The documents, which are at least five weeks old and at least one of which was marked "top secret," were circulating on pro-Russian feeds on Twitter and Telegram. Military analysts said some of the documents appear to have been doctored to, among other things, increase estimates of Ukrainian casualties and decrease those for Russian losses. Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak told Reuters that the leak appeared to be a Russian disinformation effort aimed at undermining the planned counteroffensive.
The leaked versions of the documents, Podolyak said, contain "a very large amount of fictious information." "Moscow is eager to disrupt a Ukrainian counteroffensive but it will see the real plans on the ground. Soon," Podolyak said on Twitter.
The documents include information about Ukraine's use of munitions for HIMARS rocket systems and other advanced weaponry. The New York Times called the leak "a big coup for Moscow" that could "harm intelligence sharing between Ukraine and the United States." Three U.S. officials told Reuters that Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind the leak.
The documents appear to have been altered to lower the number of casualties suffered by Russian forces, the U.S. officials said, adding that their assessments were informal and separate from an investigation into the leak itself. One of the leaked documents said 16,000 to 17,500 Russian troops had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The United States and Britain have estimated that the number of Russian casualties -- dead and wounded -- was approaching 200,000.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter and declined to discuss the documents in detail, Reuters reported. It also said that the Kremlin and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. The Financial Times reported on April 6 that the United States, Germany, and Hungary are opposed to efforts by Poland and the three Baltic states to offer Kyiv a so-called "road map" for NATO membership at a bloc summit in Vilnius in July.
NATO foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels this week to plan the summit.
NATO stated in 2008 that Ukraine could become a member of the alliance at some point, but has not moved forward in that direction since then.
At that time, the United States was urging a Membership Action Plan for Ukraine, while France and Germany were opposed.