Casualties of the war in Donbas (Picture Andrew Butko)
Highly classified Pentagon documents leaked on social media sites have underlined the human suffering in the Ukraine war, the absolutely central role of Nato in backing Ukraine—and the scale of US spying. They ram home that it is a proxy war, used by the Western powers to gain power and influence while Ukrainians do the dying.
The leaks show there are at least 150 Nato military personnel in Ukraine offering “training” and overseeing the arrival of weaponry. And on a wider scale the Ukrainian army would be powerless without its Nato backing.
Leaks show the Ukrainian 82nd brigade, for example, is a Western-supplied armoured powerhouse. It will soon boast 90 US Stryker vehicles, 40 German‑produced Marders, 24 US-made M113 infantry carriers and 14 British Challenger tanks. The unit is currently being trained to be thrown into a bloody counter-offensive.
Similarly, the 33rd brigade will have 32 Leopard tanks from Germany, Canada and Poland, alongside 90 American‑made MRAP troop carriers.
One of the documents says, “12 combat credible [brigades] can be generated for the spring counteroffensive: 3 internationally by Ukraine, and 9 are US, allied & partner trained and equipped.”
The US dragoons its allies into support for war in Ukraine. Another document describes a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials over a US demand for ammunition.
The officials worried that supplying the ammunition, which the US would then send to Ukraine, would violate South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way of getting around the policy without actually changing it by selling the ammunition to Poland.
Other documents show the US estimates that between 189,500 and 223,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded. The equivalent figure for Ukraine’s losses is between 124,500 and 131,000. Such figures aren’t new, but they confirm the horror of the war.
The US spies on its supposed friends. It has been spying on the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The US intelligence report highlighted how Zelensky in February “suggested striking Russian deployment locations” using unmanned drones. US spying on its allies is nothing new as the countries behind Nato have varying interests.
The US is throwing everything at trying to catch the potential whistleblower. And, like they did to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange—who was arrested four years ago this week—and Chelsea Manning, they will make an example of them.
The real impact should be to redouble campaigning against Russia’s invasion and Nato’s escalation and warmongering.
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