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Guardian: Leaked Pentagon document suggests Western special forces in Ukraine this year

by The Kyiv Independent news desk April 12, 2023 3:15 AM 1 min read
This audio is created with AI assistance

Leaked U.S. military intelligence documents indicate that over 90 special forces from NATO countries were deployed to Ukraine, the Guardian reported.

According to the documents, which appear to be dated February and March 2023, U.S. officials assessed that there were 97 special forces from NATO countries in Ukraine, 50 of whom were British. The U.S. and France had deployed 14 and 15 special forces respectively, the documents said.

It is unclear from the documents exactly what activities the special forces may have been engaged in or if they are still present in Ukraine, the Guardian said.

The U.K. Defense Ministry declined to comment to the Guardian, but wrote in a tweet published on April 11, that "the widely reported leak of U.S. information has demonstrated a serious level of inaccuracy."

The leaked documents are part of a trove of classified U.S. military and intelligence files that appeared on the social media network Discord. The Pentagon has since launched an investigation into the leaks to determine their original source, still unknown.

While some analysts have said that some of the leaked documents appeared to have been altered, U.S. media outlets, including CNN and New York Times, have reported that U.S. officials believe many of the documents to be legitimate.

Ukraine, for its part, has denied the validity of the leaked files, dismissing them as 'fake' and part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

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