White House national security spokesman John Kirby, speaking at a press briefing Monday, declined to discuss specific documents revealed in last week's massive leak but said U.S. officials "have been in touch with relevant allies and partners in recent days." More than 100 U.S. documents containing sensitive, classified information about the war in Ukraine,
Russian MILITARY activity,
China and the
Middle East were posted last month on at least one messaging app. U.S. officials have acknowledged that many of the documents, which began appearing widely on
Social Media last week, are authentic although some apparently have been doctored and others are outdated. Some of the documents do show sensitive data on military activities, including U.S. drone spy planes in the region and use of ammunition by Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials, though downplaying the value of the released information, have said they have already altered some military plans as a result of the leak. The
Justice Department has launched an investigation into the leak to determine who is responsible for the intelligence breach.
Ukraine REACTS TO LEAK: Ukraine challenges, shrugs off leaked
Pentagon documents from the war effort: Live updates Developing: ►The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Russia's overall offensive appears to be "approaching culmination" – with few gains to show for it. ►The Russian army is moving elite units to the hotly contested city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, military spokesman Col. Serhiy Cherevaty said. Cherevaty said the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company spearheading the Bakhmut offensive, was incurring heavy losses, making it necessary to move in regular army units. LEAKED DOCUMENTS: Leak of secret Pentagon documents on Ukraine sparks probe, raises fears of more to come Russian war
protesters sentenced to 19 years in
prison A former Russian security service officer and a former emergencies officer were each sentenced to 19 years in prison Monday for setting
fire to a Ural Mountains administration building to protest the Ukraine war and Russia's "partial mobilization" draft.
Russia has been cracking down on dissent in recent months as the
Kremlin works to expand troop strength. Roman Nasryev, a former driver for the Russian National Guard, and Alexei Nuriev, an officer in the Emergency Situations Ministry, made international news in October when they were accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail into an administrative building in the Chelyabinsk region town of Bakal in October. The men were convicted of conspiracy to commit arson “in order to destabilize the activities of government bodies” and “training for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities.” Prosecutors said the men were members of multiple, online groups with "pro-Ukrainian nationalist orientation.” Russia practicing 'systematic religious persecution' in Ukraine, think tank says Russian occupation authorities are likely conducting a campaign of systematic religious persecution in occupied Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War says in its most recent assessment of the war . The assessment says Russia reportedly has committed at least 76 acts of religious persecution in Ukraine and has closed, nationalized, or forcefully converted at least 26 places of worship to the Kremlin-controlled Russian Orthodox Church of the
Moscow Patriarchate. More than two dozen clergy have been killed or imprisoned, the assessment says. More than a dozen places of worship have been looted, desecrated, or deliberately destroyed. "These cases of religious repression are not likely isolated incidents but rather part of a deliberate campaign to systematically eradicate 'undesirable' religious organizations in Ukraine and promote the Moscow Patriarchate," the assessment says. Contributing: The Associated Press