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US Defense Secretary: Ukraine has “much of the capability” for military success

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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he is confident that Ukraine has "much of the capability it needs" to continue its success when asked about the impact of the leaked Pentagon intelligence documents at a press-conference on April 11.

After speaking with the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Austin said that the U.S. will stay focused on generating security assistance and capability to support the counteroffensive.

“We trained an enormous numbers of troops, we provided a substantial number of platforms. I think he (Reznikov) feels that they are in a pretty good position,” Austin said.

U.S. Defense Secretary also mentioned that only the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his leadership know the full details of the upcoming counteroffensive plans.

The comment aligns with previous reporting about the secrecy of the Ukrainian plans. National Security and Defense Council head Oleksii Danilov said that “no more than five people” know about the plans on April 6.

The story about the leak of the classified Pentagon intelligence documents broke on April 7 as some of the secret American and NATO plans for supplying aid to Ukraine started surfacing on social media.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

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