MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th April, 2023) Ukraine was planning to carry out strikes inside Russia on February 24, a year after the beginning of the special military operation, but agreed to postpone the plans at the request of the United States, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing leaked intelligence documents.
The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), Kyrylo Budanov, ordered one of his subordinates "to get ready for mass strikes on 24 February ... with everything the HUR had," the newspaper said, citing a memo of the US National Security Agency (NSA). The HUR was preparing strikes against Moscow and Novorossiysk, one of the bases of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, according to the report. Attacks were supposed to demonstrate Kiev's ability to target objects deep inside Russia.
The United States was eavesdropping on Kiev's plans, and they raised a great deal of concern among Washington's officials, as Russia, they believed, could aggressively retaliate, the news outlet reported.
The NSA circulated its report on February 13, the same very day, the US urged its citizens to leave Russia, according to The Washington Post. A document of the US Central Intelligence Agency dated February 22 said that Kiev "had agreed, at Washington's request, to postpone strikes" against Russia. However, the CIA's paper specified that there was "no indication" that Ukraine's security service (SBU) "agreed to postpone its own plans to attack Moscow around the same date."
Budanov is famous for his loud statements, however, Western officials often see them too ambitious and, therefore, treat them rather skeptically, The Washington Post added. The head of Ukraine's military intelligence stated Kiev will win this conflict very soon and Crimea will be "returned" to Ukraine this summer. The US intelligence community assumes these forecasts are over ambitious, according to the media report.
Meanwhile, the leaked documents indicate that the US intelligence bodies are spying on Budanov's communications, the newspaper reported, adding that the Ukrainian official is probably aware of the situation, as he was playing music or white noise during interviews with the media.
In early April, more than 100 classified US government documents were leaked on social media, apparently showing sensitive intelligence documents on the state of the Ukrainian military and the US and NATO's efforts to strengthen it. On Thursday, the FBI arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the US Air Force National Guard, for his alleged involvement in leaking the classified documents.
