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This article was initially published in May 2022

The New York Times (NYT), citing senior US officials, (May 2022 Report) claimed that Washington provided Kiev with intelligence that led to the death of high-ranking Russian officers whose number is not specified.

The newspaper’s sources declined to specify how many Russian generals had been killed with US assistance.

But Ukrainian officials claim they have killed 12 Russian generals on the front lines, “a number that has astonished military analysts,” the NYT said, adding that the US is said to prohibit itself from providing intelligence on Russia’s “most senior” military leaders to Kiev.

According to the newspaper, the US and other NATO allies are secretly providing real-time battlefield intelligence to Ukraine.

That intelligence in particular includes anticipated Russian troop movements after the start of the second phase of the war in Ukraine.

While the United States focused on providing details about the Russian military’s mobile headquarters, Kiev combined the data with its own intelligence, including some intercepted communications, to deliver artillery strikes and conduct other attacks that have killed Russian officers, explained the NYT.

The report underlined that the US administration “has sought to keep much of the battlefield intelligence secret, out of fear it will be seen as an escalation and provoke President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia into a wider war.”

The NYT said that in fear of endangering their methods of collection, US officials would not explain how they gathered information on Russian troops’ headquarters, but indicated that US intelligence agencies “have used a variety of sources, including classified and commercial satellites, to trace Russian troop movements”

It is noteworthy that Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby had mentioned that Washington provides Kiev “with information and intelligence that they can use to defend themselves.”

However, a National Security Council Spokesperson, Adrienne Watson, claimed in a statement that information provided to Ukraine is not “with the intent to kill Russian generals.”

But multiple US officials also claimed that not all Ukrainian strikes on Russian locations have been carried out based on US intelligence, saying that Washington “prohibits itself from providing intelligence about the most senior Russian leaders,” the NYT reported.

Nevertheless, the officials pointed out that US intelligence was “critical” in the deaths of other Russian generals.

In the same context, the NYT indicated that “The Biden administration is also supplying new weaponry that should improve Ukraine’s ability to target senior Russian officers.”

“The smaller version of the Switchblade drone, which is now arriving on the battlefield, can be used to identify and kill individual soldiers, and could take out a general sitting in a vehicle or giving orders on a front line,” the newspaper explained.

On Tuesday, General Mark Milley, the chairperson of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel that “There’s a significant amount of intelligence flowing to Ukraine from the United States.”

Al Jazeera Report

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Featured image: Russian President Vladimir Putin and General Valery Gerasimov (Source: Al Mayadeen English)