Top US diplomat Antony Blinken and defense chief Lloyd Austin spoke with their Ukrainian counterparts on Tuesday as Washington seeks to reassure its allies after a leaked trove of highly sensitive documents appeared online. The breach which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice includes classified information about Ukraine's battle against invading Russian forces, as well as secret assessments of US allies.
Russian forces pressed attacks on frontline cities in eastern Ukraine on Monday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv is amending some plans for a counter-offensive due to a leak of classified U.S. documents. The Russians were pounding Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other cities and towns with air strikes and artillery barrages.
The apparent leak of a trove of highly classified US documents including many related to the Ukraine conflict has triggered a criminal investigation as well as a multi-agency effort to assess the potential fallout. The source of the leaked documents is unknown and as of Monday the Department of Defense was still working to assess their authenticity, though it has acknowledged they appear to contain sensitive, classified material.