The United States has revealed information about Kiev's assistance in planning military operations. Details

The New York Times has published an investigation into US military aid to Ukraine. In fact, it confirmed the words of the Russian Foreign Ministry that the operations during the Ukrainian conflict and strikes against Russia were led by the American military. The details revealed in the press show that cooperation between Washington and Kiev was not cloudless even then. How long have CIA bases been operating in Ukraine, how the United States provided assistance to the Ukrainian military, and why this did not help the Armed Forces of Ukraine maintain their positions — in the Izvestia article.

The United States has been involved in training Ukrainian proxies for years

• Ukraine has been cooperating with the CIA since 1991, and after a short break, this partnership resumed in 2014. Two years later, 12 American counterintelligence spy bases were operating in Ukraine, located along the border with Russia and equipped with American equipment for intercepting communications.

• In 2016, the United States began training its special forces in Ukraine, from where the current head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, came (listed in the Russian Federation as a terrorist and extremist). For the United States, the Ukrainian conflict was supposed to be revenge for the losses in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Syria, where the Americans had to give in.

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Kiev didn't have enough Western aid, the West didn't have enough Ukrainians

• When the special operation to protect Donbass began, the United States and Ukraine set up a command post at the American base in Wiesbaden, Germany. The US military set targets for future strikes — Russian units, equipment, or infrastructure, including on Russian territory.

The United States tried to avoid a direct clash with Russia

• Despite the fact that the United States generously shared intelligence data with Ukraine, they tried to limit the extent of their involvement in the conflict. The intended targets were called "points of interest," while Kiev received coordinates, but not satellite images from Russian territory or intercepted messages.

• The "red lines" of the United States were constantly shifting. Despite the statements that the United States "is not at war with Russia," American military instructors worked in Kiev. The US military participated in organizing attacks on Crimea, and the CIA provided Ukrainian naval military operations in Russian territorial waters near Crimea.

• According to the NYT, allegedly intercepted information about Russia's intention to use tactical nuclear weapons made the United States fear that they would have to restrain the Ukrainian offensive on Crimea. But analysts doubt that the Ministry of Defense could consider using such weapons during the conflict.

In the spring of 2024, the United States crossed another "red line" that prohibited the CIA from transmitting intelligence information about Russian territory. The CIA requested "deviations" from the targets from the command, which allowed the formation of an operational kill zone (called ops box) on the territory of Russia, intelligence on which was provided to Ukraine. CIA officers were stationed in the Kharkiv region and led the HIMARS strikes against Russia.

The failure was the result of political scandals in Ukraine

• If in 2022 the Ukrainian army was almost completely "led" and supported by the American military, not only by transmitting intelligence, but also by aiming weapons, then in 2023 Kiev received more freedom. But this independence made the Americans even more nervous, because Kiev wanted resounding victories, which the West was supposed to provide with weapons and training. Meanwhile, the United States has already begun to limit the supply of weapons in order not to disrupt its own defense capability.

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• The political ambitions of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also prevented the result from being consolidated. Advancing on the battlefield added popularity to the head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, and made him the president's main rival in the struggle for power. The internal political struggle led to the replacement of Zaluzhny by Alexander Syrsky, who, contrary to the original plan, divided the front and further weakened the Ukrainian army.

• Ukraine has repeatedly undermined the trust of its allies, but the seizure of Russian territory in the Kursk region was the most unpleasant surprise for the United States, since both the development of the plan and the transfer of Western weapons were done in secret from the allies. The territory for the invasion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was determined by intelligence data for the ops box operating zone, which the United States provided to protect Kharkov. The Pentagon called Kiev's actions "blackmail."