By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON/KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) maintains 12 secret bases in Ukraine to help the war-torn nation and the U.S. gather intelligence from Russia, well-informed American sources have revealed.
However The New York Times newspaper, which first broke the story, warned that if the U.S. doesn’t provide additional funds for Kyiv’s war effort against the invading Russian military, the intelligence gathering could be at risk.
The revelations come days after CIA chief William Burns made his 10th secret visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, sources said.
The New York Times (NYT) reported that the cooperation began a decade ago, years before the full-scale war erupted in 2022. “It took root a decade ago,” the NYT reported.
The intelligence operations “fits and starts under three very different U.S. presidents, pushed forward by key individuals who often took daring risks,” the paper wrote. “It has transformed Ukraine, whose intelligence agencies were long seen as thoroughly compromised by Russia, into one of Washington’s most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin today.”
Washington was said to have been impressed by Ukraine intercepting data that officials say proved Russia’s involvement in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner in 2014.
The scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by Russian-controlled forces on July 17, 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine, according to investigators .
All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed.
RUSSIAN AGENTS
Ukrainians reportedly helped Americans prosecute the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Yet the revelations of the CIA bases, placed strategically along the Russian border, came after a well-informed security source told Worthy News that U.S.-led military forces are deeply involved in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
CIA operatives even remained in Ukraine when U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the evacuation of other officials.
Those CIA agents continued to work with Ukraine to fend off Russian troops. Worthy News learned that U.S. special forces and troops from other countries are also on the ground.
These CIA-backed networks are still in place and are used to aid Ukraine in its war effort, several sources now confirm.
Based on over 200 interviews with officials in the United States, Ukraine, and Europe, The NYT concluded that the CIA gave intelligence to Ukraine for “targeted missile strikes, track Russian troop movements and help support spy networks.”
The operations were backed up by CIA bases, including a listening post in the forest as well as 12 locations that are kept secret but are along the Russian border, officials said.
ELITE COMMANDO FORCE
The intelligence they gathered would be passed on to the United States.
The CIA used its operations in Ukraine to train “an elite Ukrainian commando force” and then worked to “reverse-engineer” captured Russian technology.
Yet the revelations were expected to further add to Moscow’s narrative that the United States and its allies were heavily involved in the 2014 Maidan Revolution.
The pro-Western demonstrations culminated in deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capital, Kyiv, and the eventual ouster of Ukraine’s Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych.
Soon after, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and began actively backing separatists in eastern Ukraine, and eventually launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
With Donald Trump expected to run for president against Biden and more than $60 billion in U.S. aid stalled by Republicans in the U.S. Congress, it remains unclear if and how long the current CIA operations will continue.
Trump has said he wants to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, but he, too, will need reliable intelligence to make that happen.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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