The Sun
US spies have helped Ukraine slaughter eight of Putin’s generals, 36 colonels and 300 officers by providing detailed intelligence about Russia’s moves.
Moscow lost its 35th colonel last week in a major blow to Vladimir Putin’s failed invasion.
Col. Mikhail Nagamov, 41, commander of a sapper regiment of the Western Military District, died in Ukraine on April 13.
Nagamov died “while performing a combat mission in Ukraine”.
Major General Vladimir Frolov, deputy commander of the 8th Combined Arms Army, became the eighth general to be killed in Ukraine earlier this month.
It is estimated the Russian leader’s invasion has already cost the lives of over 20,000 troops.
And now US officials have told NBC News that one of the reasons Ukraine was able to target Putin’s forces was US intelligence.
The officials said the US informed Ukraine of the time and location Russia intended to strike.
A US official said: “From the get-go, we leaned pretty heavily forward in sharing both strategic and actionable intelligence with Ukraine.
“It’s been impactful both at a tactical and strategic level. There are examples where you could tell a pretty clear story that this made a major difference.”
A former senior intelligence official told NBC: “There has been a lot of real-time intelligence shared in terms of things that could be used for specific targeting of Russian forces.
He added that the information could be commercial satellite images “but also a lot of other intelligence about, for example, where certain types of Russian units are active.”
And Ukraine has been able to move air defences and aircraft, in some cases just in time, another US official said.
“The Russian military has literally been cratering empty fields where air defenses were once set up.
“It has had an enormous impact on the Russian military’s ability on the ground.”
Ukrainian fighters were able to attack a Russian transport plane heading to Hostomel airport, 30 miles outside Kyiv, by using coordinates shared by the US, officials added.
The hit was crucial in the battle to save Kyiv as it weakened Putin’s troops who failed to secure the airfield, forcing them to use the road instead.
Top Russian general Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was shot dead by a sniper in the battle.
Another official added that the CIA is gathering intelligence in a bid to protect the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and is consulting with Ukraine on “how best to move him around, making sure that he’s not co-located with his entire chain of command, things like that.”
Last month Putin lost another general, Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev, commander of the 8th Combined Arms Army, who was killed in battle at Chornobaivka, near the southern city of Kherson.
It followed the death of Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army and Vitaly Gerasimov, who was killed in fighting outside Kharkiv.
General Magomed Tushaev died when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.
Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, died in Mariupol as well as Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev who also died in the fighting.
Earlier today a Russian ammunition depot in the Belgorod region was reportedly hit by Ukraine with pictures showing fire and smoke coming from the site.
Two more attacks were also suspected with reports of explosions in the regions of the Voronezh and Kursk.
