![]() Putin has long blamed Western intelligence agencies for manipulating Kyiv and sowing anti-Russia sentiment in Ukraine. Obsessed with “losing” Ukraine to the West, Putin had regularly interfered in Ukraine’s political system, handpicking leaders he believed would keep Ukraine within Russia’s orbit, yet each time it backfired, driving protesters into the streets. ![]() ![]() To try to reassure Ukrainian leaders, William Burns, the CIA director, made a secret visit to Ukraine Thursday, his 10th visit since the invasion.įrom the outset, a shared adversary - President Vladimir Putin of Russia - brought the CIA and its Ukrainian partners together. And they are increasingly at risk: If Republicans in Congress end military funding to Kyiv, the CIA may have to scale back. Now these intelligence networks are more important than ever, as Russia is on the offensive and Ukraine is more dependent on sabotage and long-range missile strikes that require spies far behind enemy lines. Many of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence and matters of sensitive diplomacy. In more than 200 interviews, current and former officials in Ukraine, the United States and Europe described a partnership that nearly foundered from mutual distrust before it steadily expanded, turning Ukraine into an intelligence-gathering hub that intercepted more Russian communications than the CIA station in Kyiv, Ukraine, could initially handle. The details of this intelligence partnership, many of which are being disclosed by The New York Times for the first time, have been a closely guarded secret for a decade. “Without them, there would have been no way for us to resist the Russians, or to beat them,” said Ivan Bakanov, who was then head of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, the SBU. During the invasion, the officers relayed critical intelligence, including where Russia was planning strikes and which weapons systems they would use. personnel in the weeks before Russia invaded in February 2022. The relationship is so ingrained that CIA officers remained at a remote location in western Ukraine when the Biden administration evacuated U.S. (One officer in the unit was Kyrylo Budanov, now the general leading Ukraine’s military intelligence.)Īnd the CIA also helped train a new generation of Ukrainian spies who operated inside Russia, across Europe, and in Cuba and other places where the Russians have a large presence. presidential election.Īround 2016, the CIA began training an elite Ukrainian commando force - known as Unit 2245 - which captured Russian drones and communications gear so that CIA technicians could reverse-engineer them and crack Moscow’s encryption systems. The Ukrainians also helped the Americans go after the Russian operatives who meddled in the 2016 U.S. Before the war, the Ukrainians proved themselves to the Americans by collecting intercepts that helped prove Russia’s involvement in the 2014 downing of a commercial jetliner, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The listening post in the Ukrainian forest is part of a CIA-supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border. It has transformed Ukraine, whose intelligence agencies were long seen as thoroughly compromised by Russia, into one of Washington’s most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin today. presidents, pushed forward by key individuals who often took daring risks. It took root a decade ago, coming together in fits and starts under three very different U.S. intelligence agencies provide intelligence for targeted missile strikes, track Russian troop movements and help support spy networks.īut the partnership is no wartime creation, nor is Ukraine the only beneficiary. Now entering the third year of a war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the intelligence partnership between the United States and Ukraine is a linchpin of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Serhii Dvoretskiy, a top intelligence commander, said in an interview at the base. There is also one more secret: The base is almost fully financed, and partly equipped, by the CIA. The underground bunker, built to replace the destroyed command center in the months after Russia’s invasion, is a secret nerve center of Ukraine’s military. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |