Russia Ukraine – latest news: Pentagon document leak has forced Kyiv to change war plans

A source close to Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine has already altered some of its military plans after a large leak of classified documents, reported CNN.

The documents also show the degree to which the US has penetrated the Russian defence ministry and its proxy mercenary Wagner Group, mostly through intercepted communications and human sources, while also likely raising their chances of being cut off.

Among the leaks was information on key weaknesses in Ukraine’s weaponry, air defence, and battalion sizes and readiness at a crucial point in the war as Ukraine seeks to turn the corner with its spring offensive.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it thinks Russia’s overall offensive “is approaching culmination”.

The institute cited Ivan Tymochko, the head of the Ukrainian Council of Reservists for the country’s ground forces, as reporting that recent Russian attacks appeared designed to distract and disperse Ukrainian troops preparing for a potential counter-offensive.

“Tymochko stated that Russian forces are not making serious advances anywhere on the front line,” the think tank said.

Noting that Russia has made heavy use of artillery to “offset key shortcomings in combat capability”, the institute said reported ammunition shortages would “undermine the Russian military’s ability to continue offsetting its other weaknesses and limitations”.

Below is the latest daily conflict map from the ISW:

Ukraine’s air defence systems are facing the risk of running out of missiles and ammunition within weeks, according to an apparent leak of Pentagon documents from February.

One of the documents marked “Secret” shows how Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems will be depleted by 2 May if the Ukrainian forces continue to use the ammunition at the current rate.

It is likely that Ukraine’s Buk air defence systems could run into trouble by mid-April, a report by the New York Times showed. The air defence system counters Russia’s air power sites along with the S-300.

The air defence systems protecting troops on the battle field front line could be “completely reduced” by 23 May, the report added.

More than 30 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine this weekend after being taken by invading forces to Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea.

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken by Russian troops since Moscow invaded in February last year, in what it condemns as illegal deportations.

Moscow, which control chunks of Ukraine’s east and south, denies abducting children and says they have been transported away for their own safety.

Troops from Kastus Kalinouski, a regiment of Belarusian volunteers fighting for Ukraine, have been pictured on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk.

A recent Foreign Policy profile of the volunteers heard how they were risking lengthy prison sentences, including for family members, for fighting with Ukraine against the Russian invasion, which Belarus has aided.

The US Department of Justice has started an investigation to check the source behind the leak of significant US intelligence documents shared on social media platforms like Twitter, Discord and Telegram among others in recent weeks.

It will also investigate if the documents were altered.

These documents have been labelled secret and resemble routine updates that the US military’s joint staff would produce daily but not distribute publicly.

They are dated ranging from 23 February to 1 March, and provide what appears to be details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine with more precise timelines and amounts than the US generally provides publicly.

The US officials have said that this leak is being taken seriously as they look to probe and work toward a more formal assessment of what is in the documents and how they were leaked.

The heaviest fighting was seen along the western approaches leading to Bakhmut, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has said.

“The enemy is trying to take our city-fortress at any cost,” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern military command, said.

He added: “Although it is extremely difficult, we are still in control of the situation. Our units are holding back the enemy and inflicting a maximum of damage.”

Volodymyr Zelensky and his military have said that the Ukrainian forces will keep defending Bakhmut against repeated Russian attacks, though Mr Zelensky last week acknowledged that if troops risked being encircled they could be pulled back.

Bakhmut has been the setting for the longest single battle of the Ukraine war so far, and has been besieged by Russian forces for many months.

Between Saturday and Sunday mornings, Russian forces launched 40 airstrikes, four missile strikes and 58 attacks from multiple-rocket launchers on various parts of Ukraine, the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces reported.

According to the General Staff, Russia focused attacks on the Donetsk province communities of Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka.

Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Sunday morning that two civilians were wounded on Saturday.

Officials in Kherson province, where Ukrainian forces forced a partial Russian retreat in November, said the southern region also received numerous attacks. They did not report any casualties.

Russian occupation authorities are likely conducting a campaign of systematic religious persecution in occupied Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War has said in its special assessment.

It added that Russian religious persecutions are likely also part of an ongoing Russian cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing campaign by Vladimir Putin’s forces looking to “extirpate the idea of an independent Ukrainian nationality or Ukrainian Orthodox Church.”

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year Russian soldiers or occupation authorities have reportedly committed at least 76 acts of religious persecution in Ukraine,” the US-based think-tank monitoring the war said.

It added: “Russian authorities have closed, nationalised, or forcefully converted at least 26 places of worship to the Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, killed or seized at least 29 clergy or religious leaders, and looted, desecrated, or deliberately destroyed at least 13 places of worship in occupied Ukraine.”

These cases of religious repression are likely not isolated incidents but rather part of a deliberate campaign to systematically eradicate “undesirable” religious organisations in Ukraine and promote the Moscow Patriarchate, the ISW said.

South Korea is aware of news reports about a leak of several classified U.S. military documents and it plans to discuss “issues raised” as a result of the leak with the United States, a South Korean presidential official said on Sunday.

Several classified US military documents have recently been posted on social media offering a partial, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine, three US officials told Reuters on Friday, adding that Russia or pro-Russian elements were likely behind the leak.

The US Justice Department said it is investigating the leak.

One of the documents, obtained by Reuters, showed details about internal discussions among top South Korean top officials about US pressure on Seoul to help supply weapons to Ukraine, and its policy of not doing so.