U.S. Say They Gave Ukraine Coordinates To Fire On Russian Targets

U.S. officials say they have given detailed real-time intelligence and coordinates to Russian targets to the Ukrainian military which has aided Ukraine not only in moving their forces out of the way from Russian strikes but also allegedly led to Ukraine shooting down a transport plane carrying hundreds of Russian soldiers in the 'early days of the war' according to NBC News.

We have not seen credible evidence ourselves, however, aside from mainstream reports and an unconfirmed video posted on Reddit that Russia lost any IL-76 aircraft.

Former U.S. officials told NBC on Tuesday that the United States had given critical intelligence to the Ukrainian military regarding locations where Russia was likely to target with missile and bombing strikes which gave the Ukrainian military time to move their forces and equipment out of the possible strike zones.

The intelligence given to the Ukraine military enabled Ukraine to shoot down the IL-76 Russian transport plane carrying up to 150 Russian paratroopers, which Ukrainian news Kyiv Independent said was shot down close to the city of Vaslkiv, south of Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mainstream reports say officials stated that the aircraft was carrying 'hundreds' of Russian troops. The Kyiv Independent says that the IL-76 transport aircraft that they shot down is capable of carrying up to 150 troops, repelling a Russian attack on one of the key airports near Kyiv, Ukraine.

Our research tells us the capacity of the Ilyushin IL-76 is 140 troops or 125 paratroopers. We are not sure the exact number of troops that were on the aircraft when it was shot down, however.

NBC said that a U.S. official who had been briefed on the matter stated, "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 statement by the White House National Security Council also 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".

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,” said. The information includes satellite images, “but also a lot of other intelligence about, for example, where certain types of Russian units are active".

The official told NBC that Ukraine moves its defenses and aircraft nearly every day with the help of U.S. intelligence-sharing which is why Russia has failed to establish air dominance. He said that in some cases Ukraine moved their planes or air defenses just in time to miss the Russian attacks.

One U.S. official reportedly told NBC, "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".

We remain undecided regarding the IL-76 having been shot down due to the fact that we have not yet seen enough evidence to support the claims being made. If we find more evidence on this, however, we will be reporting on it.
 
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