Pentagon says leaked documents pose 'serious risk'

Chris Meagher told reporters the documents posed “a very serious risk to national security and have the potential to spread disinformation”.

The Pentagon. Photo: Getty Images

A Pentagon team is working to assess whether the documents are genuine, but the photos have spread across various social media platforms.

“It appears the documents are in a similar format to those used to provide daily updates to our senior leaders on activities related to Ukraine and Russia, as well as other intelligence updates,” Meagher added.

While the initial revelations concerned the Ukraine conflict, the latest batch of files, which emerged last Friday, contained information on China, South Korea, the “Indo-Pacific military theater,” the Middle East, counterterrorism operations, and Israel.

“We are still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue,” Meagher said, adding that “steps have been taken to look more closely at how this type of information was disseminated and to whom.”

Both Russia and Ukraine have downplayed the significance of the document. According to the Kremlin, Moscow has long known about Washington’s direct involvement in the conflict. Meanwhile, Russian military analysts have speculated that the information in the Pentagon document may have been falsified to mislead Russia about Ukraine’s upcoming “spring offensive.”

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak initially dismissed the documents as fake and accused Russia of spreading disinformation. However, by Sunday, CNN reported that Kiev had changed some of its military plans./.