Washington: America helped foil Moscow’s efforts to take Kyiv and repelled its advances elsewhere by sharing such detailed intelligence that Ukraine knew exactly when and where Russian bombs would fall, it has emerged.

In an unprecedented information-sharing operation, US spy agencies divulged the co-ordinates of Russian forces and aircraft to Ukrainian troops, allowing them to pre-empt attacks.

A man wearing the yellow armband of the civil defense crosses a deserted boulevard during an air raid alarm in Kyiv on March 1. Credit:AP

The intelligence led Ukraine to shoot down a Russian aircraft carrying troops to Hostomel airport in the Kyiv suburbs in the early days of the war, according to NBC News. The downing of the plane helped thwart Moscow’s hopes of flooding the area with troops and equipment.

Earlier reports suggested several Russian helicopters were hit by missiles before they reached the airport. An effort to take control of a military airbase in Vasylkiv, south of Kyiv, also met stiff resistance.

Although Russian forces captured the airport for a short time, they were unable to use Hostomel as an airbridge to replenish their resources and ultimately capture Kyiv.

American intelligence has also helped Ukraine to protect its own aircraft on several occasions by pre-empting Russian missile strikes.

US officials believe the level of sharing – unprecedented for a non-NATO partner – has been critical to Ukraine’s success in repelling Vladimir Putin’s advance, despite Russia’s superior forces. In particular, the US assistance has blocked Russia from gaining dominance over Ukraine’s skies.

In some instances, American intelligence meant Ukraine repositioned its air defence systems or planes just before they were targeted.

“The Russian military has literally been cratering empty fields where air defences were once set up,” one US official told NBC. “It has had an enormous impact on the Russian military’s ability on the ground.”

The northern end of a convoy of Russian vehicles outside Kyiv. It never reached the city. Credit:AP

The CIA is also devoting “significant resources” to protect Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president and a top target for Moscow.

The agency is working with Ukrainian officials on “how best to move him around” and making sure he is not located with the rest of his chain of command, an American official told NBC. The network said it had other examples of US intelligence that had provided a boost but that it was not publishing them for fear of jeopardising the information channels.

The White House National Security Council did not comment on the incidents where the US is thought to have helped foil Russia, but said: “We are regularly providing detailed, timely intelligence to the Ukrainians on the battlefield to help them defend their country against Russian aggression and will continue to do so.”

Ukrainian officials were more muted in their praise of US intelligence co-operation. “It’s got better,” one government source said.

It began in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, but has increased since the war in Ukraine began in February.

At the onset of the invasion, US intelligence officials had barred information sharing that could lead to lethal strikes on Russians, fearing it would put Washington into direct conflict with Moscow. But as the extent of Russian atrocities became clear, those constraints were removed. It has allowed the US to share exact co-ordinates for the positions of Russian forces so that Ukrainians could fire on them.

Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defence Intelligence Agency, said: “I would say where we are at is revolutionary in terms of what we have been able to do” as he described the co-ordination with Ukrainian counterparts to Congress last month.

Others have noted that it is not just the strength of US intelligence that must be credited, but the Ukrainians’ agility in acting upon it.

Analysts have noted that in addition to covert intelligence, Ukrainian officials have effectively used other tools at their disposal – such as satellite imagery and intercepting walkie-talkies used by Russian soldiers.

Telegraph, London

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