WASHINGTON, April 17. /TASS/. The United States and its allies are actively preparing the Ukrainian armed forces for a spring counteroffensive planned for April 30, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday citing the leaked classified documents from the Pentagon and US intelligence.
"The United States and its allies are looking to the future, busy building up Ukraine for the spring ‘counteroffensive’ that the documents say is slated to begin at the end of April," it said.
The documents indicate that the counteroffensive "will be undertaken by Ukraine's 10th Operational Corps" and be made up of nine brigades which are currently being re-equipped by US and allied forces." "The total amount of equipment needed for the 9 brigades is 253 tanks, 381 mechanized vehicles, 480 vehicles, 147 artillery pieces, and 571 American HMMWV armored vehicles," it said citing one of the documents.
According to US intelligence, the loss of Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name Bakhmut), which is gradually falling into the hands of Russian forces, "will be a psychological blow" for the Ukrainian army. The morale of Ukrainian soldiers in the city is already reported to be low.
US authorities previously arrested Jack Teixeira, a member of the US Air National Guard, in a case involving the leak of secret Pentagon documents. The US Department of Defense said it would assess the consequences of such actions for national security and would review the existing procedures for gaining access to sensitive information. Meanwhile, a number of media outlets have previously noted that the authenticity of the posted online classified documents has not been confirmed.