美国官员周四推迟了一项纽约时报报道也就是说，美国向乌克兰提供情报，帮助其锁定并杀死俄罗斯将军和其他高级官员。
国家安全委员会发言人阿德里安娜·沃森(Adrienne Watson)对这篇报道的标题表示异议:“官员们表示，美国情报部门正在帮助乌克兰杀死俄罗斯将军。”
“这个故事的标题具有误导性，其构思方式也是不负责任的。美国提供战场情报来帮助乌克兰人保卫他们的国家。我们提供情报的目的不是杀死俄罗斯将军，”沃森说，并在语义上做了区分，似乎想让美国远离任何直接参与袭击俄罗斯指挥官的行为。
另一名了解美国与乌克兰情报共享的美国官员证实，美国提供俄罗斯部队和指挥所的行动情报，但不提供俄罗斯军事领导人个人的情报。
“美国没有提供俄罗斯将军的情报，”这名官员周三晚上告诉美国广播公司新闻。
第三名官员告诉美国广播公司新闻同样:“这不是我们如何运作。”
五角大楼新闻秘书约翰·柯比在周四的新闻发布会上做出了澄清。
“美国提供战场情报，帮助乌克兰人保卫自己的国家，”柯比说。“我们不提供高级军事领导人在战场上的位置的情报，也不参与乌克兰军方的目标选择决定。”
曼努埃尔·巴尔塞·塞内塔/美联社
五角大楼发言人约翰·柯比在华盛顿五角大楼的一次简报会上发言.
《纽约时报》的报道最初援引美国官员的话说，美国情报部门“帮助乌克兰人锁定并杀害了许多在乌克兰战争中阵亡的俄罗斯将军。”
据《泰晤士报》报道，官员们表示，乌克兰人能够将他们从美国学到的东西与他们自己的情报结合起来，然后针对俄罗斯领导人，这是正确的。但他们强调，美国在战场上不直接针对个人。
根据柯比的说法，其他国家也在与乌克兰分享情报，乌克兰拥有自己“强大”的能力。
柯比说:“乌克兰将我们和其他伙伴提供的信息与他们自己在战场上收集的情报结合起来，然后他们做出自己的决定，并采取自己的行动。”。
克里姆林宫也对该文章做出回应，称其军队知道西方对乌克兰的情报援助。
“我们的军人很清楚，美国、联合王国和北约一直在向乌克兰武装部队提供情报和其他参数信息。这是众所周知的，当然，加上这些国家和联盟对乌克兰的武器供应，所有这些行动都无助于迅速完成行动，尽管它们不能阻碍实现特别军事行动的目标，”克里姆林宫发言人佩斯科夫在周四的新闻发布会上说。
乌克兰国防部声称，自入侵以来，已有12名俄罗斯将军被杀，尽管美国官员在被问及此事时没有证实。
高级官员可能特别容易受到攻击的一个原因是俄罗斯军队的结构。
“他们没有授权，”负责中东事务的前副助理国防部长、美国广播公司新闻撰稿人米克·马尔罗伊(Mick Mulroy)说。"所以，他们出去直接给他们的部队下命令."
根据Mulroy的说法，与美国军方不同，俄罗斯没有授权其军士和下级军官自行决策。
“这是现代联合兵种机动战中有效作战的唯一方式，”他说。"缺乏授权是俄罗斯军队表现如此糟糕的另一个原因."
美国军方高级领导人公开表示，美国正在分享情报，以帮助乌克兰人抗击俄罗斯的入侵部队。
“我们已经打开了管道，”参谋长联席会议主席马克·米利将军周二告诉参议员。“有大量情报从美国流向乌克兰。”
美国广播公司新闻采访的官员没有说美国是否有任何禁止向乌克兰提供高层领导人情报的硬性规定，包括俄罗斯高级将领瓦列里·格拉西莫夫，他上周在有争议的顿巴斯地区呆了多天。但根据马尔罗伊的说法，帮助乌克兰杀死俄罗斯将军原则上没有错。
“袭击将军是完全合法的，但袭击非战斗平民是不合法的，”穆尔罗伊说。“如果俄罗斯的将军们不想成为目标，他们应该撤回部队，返回俄罗斯。”
Officials push back on report US intel helping Ukraine target Russian generals
U.S. officials on Thursday pushed back on aNew York Times reportthat said the U.S. provided Ukraine intelligence that helped it target and kill Russian generals and other senior officers.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson took exception to the story's headline: "U.S. Intelligence Is Helping Ukraine Kill Russian Generals, Officials Say."
"The headline of this story is misleading and the way it is framed is irresponsible. The United States provides battlefield intelligence to help the Ukrainians defend their country. We do not provide intelligence with the intent to kill Russian generals," Watson said, drawing a semantic distinction, appearing to want to distance the U.S. from any direct involvement in an attack on Russian commanders.
A second U.S. official with knowledge of U.S. intelligence-sharing with Ukraine confirmed that the U.S. provides intelligence on movements of Russian units and command posts, but not on individual Russian military leaders.
"The U.S. is not providing intelligence on Russian generals," the official told ABC News Wednesday evening.
A third official told ABC News the same: "That is not how we operate."
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby offered clarifying remarks during a press briefing Thursday.
"The United States provides battlefield intelligence to help Ukrainians defend their country," Kirby said. "We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military."
The New York Times story originally cited American officials claiming U.S. intelligence "has helped Ukrainians target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war."
Officials say it is correct, as reported by the Times, that the Ukrainians are able to combine what they learn from the U.S. with their own intelligence to then target Russian leaders. But they emphasized that the U.S. does not play a direct role in targeting individuals on the battlefield.
Other nations are also sharing intelligence with Ukraine, which has its own "robust" capabilities, according to Kirby.
"Ukraine combines information that we and other partners provide with the intelligence that they themselves are gathering on the battlefield, and then they make their own decisions, and they take their own actions," Kirby said.
The Kremlin also responded to the article, saying its troops are aware of intelligence-assistance for Ukraine coming from the West.
"Our servicemen are well aware that the United States, the United Kingdom and NATO in general are providing intelligence and information about other parameters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces on a permanent basis. This is well known and, of course, together with the arms supply to Ukraine by the same countries and the alliance, all of those actions are not helping rapidly finalize the operation, although they cannot hinder the achievement of objectives set for the special military operation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press briefing Thursday.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has claimed 12 Russian generals have been killed since the invasion, though U.S. officials have not confirmed this when asked.
One reason senior officers might be particularly vulnerable is due to the structure of Russia's military.
"They do not delegate authority," said Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and ABC News contributor. "So, they are out giving orders directly to their forces."
Unlike the U.S. military, Russia does not empower its non-commissioned and junior officers with the authority to make decisions on their own, according to Mulroy.
"It's the only way to effectively fight in modern combined arms maneuver warfare," he said. "The lack of delegation is another reason the Russian military is performing so poorly."
Top American military leaders have publicly stated the U.S. is sharing intelligence to help Ukrainians in their fight against Russia's invading forces.
"We have opened up the pipes," Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators Tuesday. "There is a significant amount of intelligence flowing to the Ukraine from the United States."
The officials ABC News spoke to could not say whether the U.S. has any hard rules in place against giving Ukraine intelligence on high-level leaders, including top Russian general Valery Gerasimov, who spent multiple days in the contested Donbas region last week. But according to Mulroy, there is nothing wrong in principle with helping Ukraine kill Russian generals.
"Targeting generals is fully lawful, targeting non-combatant civilians is not," Mulroy said. "If Russian generals don't want to be targeted, they should withdraw their forces and return to Russia."
