United States: A new report has stated that the recent leak of more than a hundred secret US defence documents could just be the “tip of the iceberg” of a trove of material that had started circulating long before it was widely noticed.

According to analysts, the disclosure of highly classified material represents Washington’s worst national security breach in many years, including details about Ukraine’s lack of ammunition, US intelligence collection methods used against Russia, and embarrassing evidence pointing to US spying on close allies such as Ukraine, South Korea, and Israel. Analysts further suggest that the damage to the US could still get much worse.

Mr. John Kirby, a spokesman for the national security council, Pentagon, remarked that Mr. Joe Biden had been informed of the breach late last week and was being kept informed of developments. Mr. Kirby added that “Washington’s allies were being consulted at high levels”.

One of the documents, dated February 23, 2023, and marked secret, outlines in detail how Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems would be depleted by May 2 at the current usage rate. The same document also refers to an intelligence source as “Lapis time-series video,” an apparent reference to a little-known and closely guarded satellite system for imaging objects on the ground.

Recently, Ukraine denied a report that it had been forced to amend some military plans ahead of a long-anticipated counter-offensive because of the leak. Mr. Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential aide, commented that Kyiv’s strategic plans remained unchanged but that specific tactics were always subject to change.

Even though the authenticity of the documents has not been officially confirmed, the Pentagon issued a statement saying it was reviewing the documents, which “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material.”

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