Intelligence from the United States helped Ukraine thwart a key Russian aerial operation, according to a new report.
U.S. intelligence sharing with the Ukrainian military has proven to be a tremendous factor, as it has helped them both prevent and launch their own attacks.
Near the beginning of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine, which commenced Feb. 24, U.S. intel provided to the Ukrainians helped defeat a Russian operation that was meant to wrest control of Hostomel Airport near Kyiv by shooting down a Russian transport plane carrying hundreds of troops, according to NBC News. Had Russia been able to maintain control of the airport — its forces captured it for a short time — Moscow could have used it to solve many of its supplies and logistical problems.
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Various U.S. defense and intelligence officials have spoken in broad terms about the intelligence sharing with the Ukrainians while frequently choosing not to get into specifics.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the National Security Council told the outlet, “We are regularly providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on the battlefield to help them defend their country against Russian aggression and will continue to do so.”
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee on April 5 that “we have, and I’m not going to [reveal in an] open hearing … the intelligence we’ve collected and how we did it and all that, but this war has arguably been the most successful intelligence operation in military history. And it’s really tremendous, and someday, that story will be told.”
The chairman also pointed out that the U.S. played a significant role in providing Ukraine with the tools to ensure Russia did not achieve air superiority over Ukraine.
“The fundamental significance of air defense systems in order to deny an opponent that ability to achieve air superiority and supremacy — that’s been done by the Ukrainians, and it’s been done with a huge amount of help from the United States with Stingers, etc., but also because of our intelligence feeds,” he added.
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With the help of U.S. intel, Ukraine has been able to move targeted air defense systems or planes ahead of incoming attacks. One U.S. official told NBC News that “the Russian military has literally been cratering empty fields where air defenses were once set up.”
“We have done intensive intelligence sharing, and we continue to with the Ukrainians, including when I saw President Zelensky in January in Kyiv,” CIA Director William Burns told the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “We shared with him intelligence we had at the time about some of the most graphic and concerning details of Russian planning about Kyiv as well, and we have continued to do that every day since then.”
