A leaked trove of American classified documents is creating a “nightmare” for Western intelligence operations in Ukraine, partially by revealing just how deep U.S. spy networks penetrate on both sides of the war. According to The New York Times, the “massive intelligence breach” paints a portrait of an exhausted Russian military so compromised by spies that the U.S. has the ability to warn the Ukrainian military about upcoming strikes in real time. Yet at the same time, the documents reveal extensive spying operations conducted by the U.S. against its own ally in Ukraine in an attempt to get a handle on the country’s notoriously opaque military strategy. The leak has the potential to damage U.S. operations in multiple ways, potentially alerting Moscow to sources of intelligence, raising doubts about the American military’s ability to keep secrets, and setting off alarm bells among allies who fear they could be the targets of spying, too.
