A major intelligence leak in the US has unleashed a series of damaging disclosures about sensitive military operations.
The classified documents have had ramifications around the world, shedding fresh light on US intelligence gathering and the war in Ukraine.
Images of covert files - including some marked “top secret” - started appearing on the messaging platform Discord in early March.
It sparked a race between the FBI and journalists to identify the source of the embarrassing leaks.
A US Air National Guardsman has been arrested on suspicion of leaking the highly-classified Pentagon documents.
Jack Teixeira, 21, is due to appear in court in Boston charged with the unauthorised removal and transmission of classified information.
What Has Been Leaked?
The cache of documents includes details on how the US spies on its allies and enemies as well as the degree to which they have penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defence and mercenary organisation Wagner Group.
One of the most concerning documents refers to the presence of Western special forces operating inside Ukraine.
It does not specify what they are doing in Ukraine but says the UK has the largest contingent (50), followed by Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1).
Another awkward revelation includes the US belief that the UN secretary general António Guterres was too “accommodating” to Russia’s interests when renegotiating the Black Sea grain deal. It suggests that Washington has been closely monitoring him.
The documents paint a picture of a Russian government feuding over the number of dead and wounded in the Ukraine war.
They reveal the US has dim hopes for Ukraine’s planned spring counter-offensive which they think might fall “well short” of Kyiv’s goals for recapturing territory seized by Russia.
They also indicate that Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia and South Korea has been torn over whether to deliver weapons to Ukraine.
A number of documents concern China, indicating that Jordan feared retaliation from China if they cut Huawei out of their 5G rollout plans. They also suggest that China has conducted secret experimental weapons tests with hypersonic missiles.
Why Does It Matter To The UK?
British MPs have issued a stark warning that the leak has directly put UK lives at risk after it was claimed that 50 elite troops have been sent to Ukraine.
Britain is the largest Nato contributor of special forces, according to the leaked documents circulating online.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has warned against taking the allegations at “face value” and said they contain a “serious level of inaccuracy”.
Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the defence select committee, said the US leaks could “endanger lives”.
“Given our long-established lead in scale and capability when it comes to elite forces, it will come as no surprise that our special forces are doing much of the heavy lifting,” he told The Times.
“But this deliberate, large-scale disclosure of sensitive material could easily endanger lives and should prompt an urgent review about who has access to sensitive information and how it is shared.”
The document reportedly does not state where the allegedly deployed forces are located or what they are doing.
Former special forces commander Dan Jarvis, who served in Afghanistan and is the Labour MP for Barnsley Central, said any compromise of such secret material was not only “politically embarrassing but also militarily disadvantageous”.
He told the newspaper it risked jeopardising the security and effectiveness of operations and “put lives at risk”.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said on Twitter: “The widely reported leak of alleged classified US information has demonstrated a serious level of inaccuracy.
“Readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that have the potential to spread disinformation.”
Chris Meagher, a spokesman for the Pentagon, has urged caution in “promoting or amplifying any of these documents”, adding that “it does appear that slides have been doctored”.
Asked on Monday if the US government was waiting for more intelligence documents to show up online, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby replied: “The truth and the honest answer to your question is: We don’t know. And is that a matter of concern to us? You’re darn right it is.”