Leak of secret US documents: Ukraine planned attacks on Russian troops in Syria, - Washington Post
The leak of secret US documents indicates that the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was preparing strikes against Russian troops and mercenaries of the "Wagner" PMC in Syria with the participation of Kurdish formations, but in December Volodymyr Zelensky ordered to stop the planning of the operation.
As reported by Censor.NET with reference to UP, The Washington Post reports this.
According to WP, the purpose of opening a new battlefield thousands of kilometers from Ukraine was to impose costs and losses on the Russian army and the Wagner group, which is actively operating in Syria, which would probably force Moscow to redeploy its resources from Ukraine.
According to documents leaked online, in December Volodymyr Zelensky ordered a halt to the plan. Based on intelligence collected as of January 23, the documents detail how the planning took place and how such an operation could take place if Ukraine resumes it, the publication writes.
According to WP, the document, labeled HCS-P, which means receiving certain information from people, describes in detail how officers of the IOM's Defence Intelligence could have planned attacks on Russian forces in Syria. It is noted that the head of Defence Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov refused to comment.
The documents indicate that Ukrainian military intelligence preferred to strike Russian forces with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles. They planned to start "small" or to limit their attacks only to the "Wagnerians".
Ukrainian officers, the publication writes, were considering the possibility of training fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military forces of the Kurdish-controlled autonomous northeast of Syria, to launch strikes on Russian targets and conduct "unspecified direct action measures along with UAV attacks."
It is noted that the SDF sought training, air defense systems, and assurances that their role in Ukrainian operations would be kept secret. The leadership of the SDF also forbade strikes against Russian positions in Kurdish areas.
In a comment to the publication, SDF spokesman Farhad Shami said that "the documents you are talking about regarding our forces are not real," and that SDF forces "have never been a party to the Russian-Ukrainian war."
The "leaked" document, WP writes, indicates that Turkey was aware of the planning and that Turkish officials "sought to avoid a potential blowback" and suggested that Ukraine launch its attacks from Kurdish areas, rather than from the north and northwest, which are held by others rebel groups, some of which are supported by Ankara.
The publication explains that Turkey opposes the SDF and considers their People's Self-Defense Forces (YPG) a terrorist group. Instead, the SDF is the main partner of US forces in Syria, where they often share bases within the mission to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State.
In November, Ukrainian military intelligence officers identified potential logistical constraints to their plans, including "problems with intra-Kurdish border control and establishing an operational base," according to the documents.
"By December 29, the officers seem to have found out that Zelensky stopped their plans. It is not clear why Zelensky ordered the Defence Intelligence to stop planning operations, but the document notes that he could have done so for a variety of reasons: pressure from the US, the limitations of Ukrainian drones, or doubts that the attacks could be successful.
Another factor could have been the success of military intelligence operations in Russia. According to the documents, the Defence Intelligence was aggressive in organizing sabotage, assassinations, and destabilization operations in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. These areas likely offer advantages in logistics, language, and other parameters," the WP publication said.
Kyiv is unlikely to return to these plans, but if Ukraine does launch an operation, the attacks could "provoke a Russian response directed against US interests in the region if support for the operation is attributed to the States," the document emphasizes.
The document describes in detail what a campaign of secret attacks by Ukraine could look like and what kind of escalation they could provoke in response from the Russian Federation. The report compares attacks on well-defended "priority" Russian targets near Damascus and the Syrian coast, which would be the most dangerous but most expensive for Russia, with strikes on "Russian-linked oil infrastructure" in central Syria, which is poorly protected by air defense, but would cause only "modest costs" to the Russian Federation, in particular to "Wagner".
The document states that the battlefield in Syria "gives Ukraine opportunities for denial" as it can attack Russian positions, previously hit by Syrian rebels, launch attacks from areas controlled by rebels or even government forces, and attribute attacks to "advanced, defunct or active non-state groups".
The documents, WP writes, mention a real but previously undisclosed incident on November 27, when a Russian SA-22 air defense system based in eastern Syria opened fire on an American MQ-9 drone. According to an American official, the drone was not hit by a missile.
