The so-called secret documents about the Ukrainian counteroffensive, allegedly leaked from the Pentagon, began to appear online as early as January 2023.
.in_text_content_22 { width: 300px; height: 600px; } @media(min-width: 600px) { .in_text_content_22 { width: 580px; height: 400px; } }
This data began to spread on April 5 in pro-Russian Telegram channels. The first version appeared in the Donbass Devushka Telegram channel. However, a few hours earlier, the document was posted on one of the 4chan forums. This is stated by the BellingCat investigation team.
It turned out that on March 4, these documents appeared on a Discord server called Minecraft Earth Map. 10 such documents have been published here. Users were arguing about Minecraft maps and the war in Ukraine, and one of them said: “Here are some leaked documents” and attached 10 files. It turned out that all seven documents that were distributed on social networks were in these files.
The user who posted the data said he found it on another Discord server called WowMao, run by fans of the YouTube channel of the same name. This is a Filipino gamer currently based in the UK.
It was WowMao on March 1 and 2 that leaked more than 30 such documents to the network. On other dates, dozens of other documents on Ukraine were published on the server. This channel no longer exists.
The journalists talked to the participants of this server and found out that it could also not be the original source. According to the participants, this information was published in early January on another Discord server that changed its name very often, but was called Thug Shaker Central for the longest time. At least one of these files appeared there on January 13th.
Recall, the American edition of The New York Times reported that Twitter and Telegram had secret documents that describe the plans of the United States and NATO to build up the Ukrainian army before the planned counteroffensive of the Defense Forces.
One of the officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden said that the Pentagon is already investigating how the data was leaked.
The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense stated that the “counteroffensive plan” leaked to the network is a fake and a Russian special operation. Intelligence believes Russia may have forged documents to disrupt or slow down Western aid to Ukraine
Source: Bellingcat
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.