American intelligence agencies gave highly sensitive data to the Ukrainian armed forces that allowed them to track and kill a dozen Russian generals and sink the Russian flagship Moskva, a new book reveals — despite strident administration denials.
A “furious” President Joe Biden gave “presidential tongue-lashings” to CIA chief Bill Burns and other top aides in May after leakers told NBC News and the New York Times that Ukrainians had been given real-time intelligence from US sources.
“He didn’t like what he considered to be publicly taunting the Russians,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told author Chris Whipple in the forthcoming book “The Fight of His Life,” out Jan. 17.
The reports of secret streams of real-time battlefield intelligence drew a furious response from the Kremlin — and instant repudiation from the Pentagon, the National Security Council, and Biden’s press office.
“We do not provide intelligence with the intent to kill Russian generals,” NSC spokesperson Adrienne Wilson said May 5.
President Biden was reportedly “furious” that leakers told media outlets that the US shared intelligence with Ukraine. AP
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied that the US shared intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva. LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images
“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva,” insisted Jen Psaki, then the White House’s press secretary. “We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out.”
The Post has obtained a copy of the book, which contains a string of revelations about Biden’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan and other incidents from the first two years of his administration.
US helped Ukraine target Russian generals, sink Moskva: book
