Ukraine has relied on a decadelong secret partnership with the CIA to collect important Russian intelligence and, extra lately, perform deadly operations in the course of the warfare, in response to a brand new report from The New York Occasions.
The partnership, which may be traced again to February 2014, has offered Ukraine with intelligence-gathering coaching, communications tools, and, prior to now eight years, a community of spy bases constructed alongside the Russian border, the report mentioned.
A CIA spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the report.
The partnership started throughout a disaster 12 months for Ukraine when the nation’s pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych, had simply been ousted, and Russia would quickly annex Crimea.
Based on the Occasions report, Ukraine’s Safety Service head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, first sought the help of the CIA and Britain’s MI6 to rebuild the nation’s intelligence company on February 24, 2014 — precisely eight years earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine.
“That is how it began,” Nalyvaichenko instructed The Occasions.
After realizing that Ukraine’s intelligence company might be an asset to the US, the CIA agreed to assist Ukraine, which initially got here within the type of communications provide and coaching, the Occasions report mentioned.
However the spy company additionally had misgivings concerning the partnership, partly as a result of it didn’t need to cross a boundary that might provoke Russia. The CIA made clear that it might not assist Ukraine perform deadly operations in opposition to its adversary, the Occasions reported.
“We made a distinction between intelligence assortment operations and issues that go growth,” a former senior US official instructed the Occasions.
These boundaries have since been deserted after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, in response to the report.
The Biden Administration greenlighted the CIA to offer intelligence important for Ukraine’s deadly operations in opposition to Russia, the report mentioned.
Among the intelligence included when precisely Russian forces deliberate to assault six Ukrainian cities and assassination plans in opposition to high Ukrainian officers, together with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in response to the report.
“Are they pulling triggers? No,” a senior US official instructed The Occasions of the CIA’s function in Ukraine. “Are they serving to with focusing on? Completely.”
