Iran Press TV
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has plotted in private to launch bold attacks inside Russia, according to leaked documents.
Zelensky, who till recently was refused long-range weapons to use in attacks against Russia, behind closed doors sketched out plans earlier this year for major military actions such as occupying cities and villages inside Russia, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, and using long-range missiles to hit targets on the Russian side of the border.
The leaked classified US intelligence documents detailed his internal communications with top aides and military leaders cited by the Washington Post.
The documents were first leaked by Jack Teixeira, a young member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
The UK, this past week, became the first Western country to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, the Storm Shadow.
The secret documents reveal that Ukraine’s president has an aggressive sub-personality that is in sharp contrast to the public image he tries to portray of a comedian actor who became a seasoned politician amid political turmoil in the former Soviet state.
Zelensky, according to the leaked documents, proposed Ukrainian military brass to “conduct strikes in Russia” and deploy Ukrainian ground troops into Russian territory to “occupy unspecified Russian border cities,” according to one of the documents labeled “top secret.”
The goal would be “to give Kiev leverage in talks with Moscow,” the document said.
According to another classified document, he suggested to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military commander, that “Ukraine attack unspecified deployment locations in Rostov,” a region in western Russia, using drones.
Zelensky had been distraught at the time of the meeting that “Ukraine does not have long-range missiles capable of reaching Russian troop deployments in Russia,” the leaked documents reported.
After Russia launched its special military operation in eastern Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine was flooded with a raft of Western weapons and armaments.
However, other classified US military documents leaked on social media also indicate that Washington has serious doubts regarding Ukrainian forces’ military strength to fight against Russia, according to an April report and documents reviewed by AFP as part of a trove of highly sensitive material that had been posted online.
Strong Russian defenses and Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies will probably exacerbate casualties during offensives by Ukraine, reported one top-secret document.
“Enduring Ukrainian deficiencies in training and munitions supplies probably will strain progress and exacerbate casualties during the offensive,” the leaked documents said.
The tragic state of Ukrainian air defenses was detailed in another secret document which specifically stated that Kiev forces’ ability to provide air defenses to protect the front line against Russian airstrikes will be completely reduced by May 23.