Ukrainian military intelligence planned attacks on Russian troops and Wagner Group mercenaries in Syria last winter, before the Ukrainian president suspended those plans, documents seen by The Washington Post reveal.
The aim of the attack, according to the US newspaper, was to inflict casualties on the Wagner group, which is active in Russia and Syria, and to force Moscow to withdraw its resources from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky halted the plans in December, but the published information, based on information gathered up to January 23 and from leaks by young American Jack Teixeira on the Discord platform, describes what the military campaign will look like. Had it continued, it would have happened.
That is, the attacks on Russian troops and Wagner mercenaries in Syria were designed not to implicate the Ukrainian government.
Ukrainian military intelligence was reportedly in favor of using unmanned drones in “surgical” strikes against Russian forces, but was in favor of limiting strikes to targeting the Wagner Group.
The document says Ukrainian authorities trained members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to attack Russian targets and conduct other unspecified “direct actions” in conjunction with drones.
SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told the newspaper that the documents were “not authentic” and that his forces were not part of this other conflict.
According to “The Washington Post”, Turkey was aware of these plans and, in order not to be caught, attacks were taking place from Kurdish areas, not from the north and northeast controlled by other “rebel groups”, some of which were supported by Turkey.
It is not clear why Zelensky called off the move, but it is speculated that it may have been due to pressure from the United States, too few drones in Ukrainian hands, or concerns about possible attacks if you did. surgery.
Jack Teixeira, the suspected author of one of the biggest leaks of the Pentagon Papers in the past decade, was indicted on April 14 on charges of disseminating and extracting classified information.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”