Status: 05/06/2022 05:09 a.m
What role does US intelligence play in the Ukraine war? Quite a big one, according to US media. The government in Washington is getting into trouble.
When the New York Times headline appeared on Twitter, ex-CIA operative Philip Mudd winced: US intelligence services are helping Ukraine kill Russian generals, the newspaper headlined. And Mudd, now an intelligence expert at CNN, thought, “What’s that? You don’t normally use intelligence for targeted killings.”
A few hours later, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby also denied the story. It is true that the USA is providing Ukraine with reconnaissance from the battlefield. But: “We do not provide any information about the whereabouts of high-ranking Russian officers on the battlefield and do not participate in the decisions of the Ukrainian military to attack.”
Media: US provided locations of Russian mobile headquarters
Ukraine claims that twelve high-ranking Russian officers have been killed since the war began. According to the “New York Times”, the American Enlightenment is said to have played a decisive role. The US intelligence services not only provided the Ukrainians with real-time data on troop movements, but also on the locations of Russian mobile headquarters.
Pentagon spokesman Kirby sought to downplay the importance of US intelligence. The Ukrainians themselves would have much more information. After all, this is their country. And they would also have very capable intelligence services of their own.
Ukraine combines the information they get from us and others on the battlefield. And then they make their own decisions and act.
Intelligence expert Mudd explains the difference like this: “We don’t tell them: General X is moving, General X is at this command post, if you attack it now, you’ll kill General X. Instead, we say: ‘We’re giving you information ‘how the Russians conduct the war, including the location of tanks or command posts. Get on it.’ As one does in any armed conflict.”
Did US knowledge lead to the sinking of the “Moscow”?
According to US media, the US secret services are said to have played a significant role in Russia’s worst loss to date. In mid-April, the flagship Moscow sank after Ukrainian missiles set the cruiser on fire.
As reported by the “New York Times” and the television station NBC, citing anonymous US government officials, the US intelligence services are said to have previously confirmed to the Ukrainians that the ship was the Moscow.
However, the US had not previously known that Ukraine intended to attack the ship. 250 Russian soldiers are said to have died when the Moscow went down.
US government in trouble
The issue is highly sensitive for the US government: on the one hand, it wants to provide Ukraine with the best possible military support – but on the other hand, it does not want to become a party to the war itself. And: Although targeted killings in war are covered by international law, they are still a huge ethical problem for secret service employees, says former secret service agent Mudd.
But how did the Ukrainians manage to kill so many Russian officers on the battlefield in proportion? Not so much because of American intelligence information – but because of Russian incompetence, says the former head of the CIA’s Russia desk, Steve Hall, also on CNN.
The Russian armed forces are inflexible, and officers at the front have few powers, says Hall. If there were problems, the generals would have to step up – and would then be easier targets. In addition, the morale of the Russian troops is low, and many soldiers use their cell phones to call their friends at home. That would also make the work of the Ukrainian secret services much easier.