U.S. intelligence agencies have gathered information about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the agencies are refusing to share this info with Ukraine, the Daily Beast reports.
Instead, the U.S. intelligence community’s detailed analysis of a potential Russian invasion has been shared only with the Congress, American policy makers, and members of the Obama administration. The analysis includes details such as the geographic location of specific Russian units and predictions for how those units would be used in combination for a potential invasion.
That’s the sort of information that would be invaluable for any military preparing for a possible incursion. But it would be particularly useful to the fledgling government in Ukraine that lacks the satellites, sensors and intercept technology to learn the details of the military force that looks like it is about to invade its territory. Ukraine's military is severely outmatched by Russia's, but detailed intelligence on the location and composition of Russia's invading force could advantage the Ukrainians in defending its eastern cities nonetheless.
Signs are increasingly pointing to an invasion. Supply lines, battlefield hospitals, mobile medical units, infantrymen, tank columns, and artillery units are all amassing at the Russia-Ukraine border. Russia is estimated to have 80,000 troops on the border.
One expert told the Daily Beast that intelligence sharing is not occurring due to fears that information would reach Moscow, which had close ties to Kiev until the recent invasion of Crimea.