12 May 2022

Biden Says That Leaks About Intelligence Sharing With Ukraine Must End

Mark Episkopos

President Joe Biden told top U.S. intelligence and defense officials that leaks about U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine need to stop, according to recent reports.

NBC News, citing two administration officials, reported that Biden told CIA director William Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that such leaks “distract from our objective,” adding that the disclosures are not helpful.

Major news outlets have reported in prior weeks that U.S. intelligence was wholly or partially behind a slew of purported Ukrainian battlefield successes against the Russian military. An NBC story in late April said that Ukrainian forces used specific coordinates provided by U.S. intelligence to shoot down a Russian plane carrying hundreds of troops in the Kyiv region. The New York Times reported last week that battlefield intelligence provided by the U.S. was critical in helping Ukraine kill scores of Russian generals since the war began, though the deaths of only two Russian general officers have been conclusively verified.

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