Why 'Pentagon Files' Reek of Disinfo
A leak of apparently classified Pentagon documents concerning US military plans in Ukraine, as well as sensitive information linked to China and the Middle East, has prompted a heated debate about the origins and value of the trove. Who is behind the dump, and is it genuine?
Sputnik"There could be two reasons behind the leak of these documents," Yuri Knutov, military historian, publicist, and director of the Air Defense Forces Museum, told Sputnik. "The first reason is the internal political struggle within the United States of America (…) If they have people sympathetic to [GOP] views in the intelligence services, in the special services, in the Pentagon, they could leak such documents in order to accuse the Democrats, President [Joe] Biden and his administration of not being able to keep secrets and playing into the hands of the US' adversaries (…) I think that the second version is the most probable. The crux of the matter is that the leak could be deliberately organized. That is, as a rule, among this type of documents, approximately 60-70% are genuine documents and around 30-40% are falsifications."
Referring to the documents concerning a Ukrainian counter-offensive, Knutov suggested that the purpose of the leak is to sow confusion within the Russian General Staff and ensure that the Kiev regime's advance catches the Russians off guard. "Approximately the same scheme was used by Nazi Germany before June 22, 1941, when the Nazi troops attacked the Soviet Union," the military historian remarked.
One still cannot rule out that the apparent leak was organized by some Pentagon dissenter, akin to Edward Snowden, according to Dmitry Kornev, military expert and founder of the Military Russia portal. He draws attention to the fact that the allegedly classified documents started seeping out on computer gaming forums and other non-specialized platforms where they were later found. In any event, the trove deserves to be examined, the expert underscored.
"Any information on the subject of the special military operation, no matter by whom and how it was initiated and launched into the public field, is of interest to all parties," Kornev told Sputnik. "Of course, we must study all this data. We must treat it as a source of dubious reliability. But this data still needs to be included in the general array of information that is available."
No Ukraine Offensive Without More Weapons?
The trove describes
certain problems with Ukraine's military stockpiles. It particularly claims that the Kiev regime is running out of anti-aircraft missiles, which could leave Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure vulnerable to Russian strikes and complicate the spring counter-offensive. Judging from the purported Pentagon files, the Kiev regime urgently needs ammo deliveries from NATO, which are long overdue.
"I am convinced that the media story claiming that the Ukrainian Army does not have enough ammo actually means that it really does not use them much, because they are hoarded," suggested Knutov. "They are accumulated so that later they can be used in huge quantities during the counteroffensive, which Zelensky spoke about on multiple occasions. There is no doubt that the counteroffensive will take place: NATO and the West have invested too much money in preparing and training the Ukrainian Army, its equipment, provision of shells, missiles, and other means of destruction, including long-range Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) missiles."
According to Knutov, NATO's latest packages of military aid indicate that the Kiev regime has most likely amassed considerable quantities of ammo and missiles.
"In addition, the [West] helped Ukraine create Grom-2 tactical missiles with a range of at least 300 kilometers, which we have begun to shoot down," the military historian continued. "These missiles are more modern than the Tochka-U, although they are not as sophisticated as the Iskander-M missile."
Similarly, NATO has stepped up the provision of tanks to the Kiev regime, Knutov continued. Some of those tanks could currently be stationed in Poland and then quickly transferred to Ukraine within two-three days, according to him.
Even though
the gloomy situation depicted by the alleged Pentagon trove could be partially true, in general the potential of Western countries and those cooperating with the NATO bloc is still considerable, Knutov notes, suggesting that the files reek of disinformation.
Ukraine's Offensive: There Should be Plethora of Plans
"The [Ukrainian] counteroffensive cannot begin earlier than the end of April or the beginning of May, due to weather reasons," suggested Kornev. "The logic of the counteroffensive must be quite unusual for us. They will attack simultaneously in five-six-seven areas, inflicting defeat with the means that they have. That is, artillery, HIMARS and GLSDB will be used, that is, up to 150 kilometers in a narrow strip, everything related to headquarters, warehouses, concentrations of troops, dugouts and so on and so forth will be destroyed. Their task is to sow chaos at five or six points at once, but then they will actually conduct an offensive, probably, at two points."
The apparent goal of the Ukrainian Army and their NATO allies is to break through Russia's defenses, sow panic, and then, if everything goes according to their plans, try to encircle the Russian military forces and interrupt communications, the military expert hypothesized.
"I just proceed from the fact that one cannot underestimate the enemy," Kornev continued. "Underestimating the enemy is the worst thing that can happen. They are very well-educated, they have prepared for this [offensive] (…) There should be many plans, and which one will go into work will be decided in the eleventh hour. The only way to protect oneself from modern intelligence, which has infiltrated even the top brass, is to work out several plans at once simultaneously, in parallel, saying that we do not yet know which plan will work. Most likely, that's exactly what they do."
Now everything depends on the ability of Russian defense experts to gather and analyze data concerning Ukraine's forthcoming attacks. To illustrate his point, Kornev referred to the Battle of Kursk in 1943. At the time, Soviet generals knew in advance exactly where the Nazi German forces would strike and carried out a preventive artillery attack, thus sowing discord among the frontal units of the Nazis.
"Now, if we find out the place of concentration of [the Kiev regime's] equipment and attack them by aircraft, cruise missiles, or some other long-range means, we will get 50% of the success of the defensive operation," the military expert concluded.