Russia Ukraine war latest news: Pentagon leak suspect arrested, as Putin chemotherapy rumour unearthed

A Facebook post last July from the 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is based at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, congratulated someone by the name of Jack Teixeira for promotion to airman first class, reported The Washington Post.

The US intelligence community has been racing to track down the person who leaked scores of highly-classified documents online about the Ukraine war, and much else, a week after their existence was first revealed.

The so-called “Pentagon Papers”, widely shared and leaving many in Washington ashen-faced with embarrassment, have yet to be officially authenticated but appear to contain details on deeply sensitive matters pertaining to national security and foreign affairs.

The slides of photographed files that were made public include detailed battlefield maps from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the alarming suggestion that the US believes Kyiv will soon run out of missiles for its air defence systems, in addition to awkward revelations about America’s attitude towards many of its allies around the world, including the UK, South Korea, Egypt, Israel and the UAE.

Precisely how many documents were leaked is not known, with estimates varying from 50 into the hundreds.

Recently leaked documents from the Pentagon include a rumour that Russian President Vladimir Putin is undergoing chemotherapy (Ariana Baio writes).

The papers, labelled as “Top Secret”, also indicate that Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev “devised” a plan to “sabotage” Mr Putin while he undergoes medical treatment.

The papers do not specify what alleged medical condition Mr Putin has that requires chemotherapy but there have been longstanding rumours that the Russian president has cancer.

The source’s name is redacted in the report and claims they received their information from an unidentified Russian source who has access to Kremlin officials.

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Armed FBI officers have arrested a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard over the alleged leak of classified military intelligence online.

Authorities raided the Massachusetts home of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Guard’s intelligence wing, on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

Hundreds of pages of classified military intelligence have been shared with an online gaming group before becoming public in a string of disclosures last week.

The US attorney general has confirmed that Jack Texeria has been arrested in connection with the Pentagon documents leak.

Footage from the scene shows the 21 year-old being taken away by armed FBI agents.

The Massachusetts Guardsman is to be charged with unauthorized removal of classified national defence information.

FBI agents converged at the Massachusetts home of a member of that state’s Air National Guard, who has emerged as a main person of interest in the disclosure of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war.

Investigators believe that the guardsman, who specializes in intelligence, led the chat group where the documents were posted, according to the two people, who were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press.

They identified the guardsman as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira.

Law enforcement officials roped off the street near the home. The New York Times, which first identified Teixeira on Thursday, said that a man who had been standing outside the Teixeira home earlier said that “he needs to get an attorney if things are flowing the way they are going right now. The Feds will be around soon, I’m sure.”

The emergence of Teixeira as the apparent primary suspect is bound to raise questions about how the highest-profile intelligence leak in years, one that continues to unfold with almost daily revelations of highly classified documents, could have been caused by such a young, low-ranking service member.

The Biden administration has scrambled for days to contain the fallout from the leaked information, which has publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters.

The National Guard did not confirm his identity but said in a statement that, “We are aware of the investigation into the alleged role a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman may have played in the recent leak of highly-classified documents.”

The FBI confirmed it has “made an arrest and is continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts,” amid a media report a suspect in the leak of classified has been identified.

The leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act,” the Pentagon said at a press briefing tonight.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder referred questions about the investigation to the Department of Justice.

Ryder added the Pentagon had taken steps to review distribution lists and ensure that people receiving information had a need to know.

Romania, Ukraine and Moldova signed cooperation agreements in Romania’s capital today after a trilateral meeting on ways to strengthen security in their Black Sea region to counter threats posed by Russian aggression.

The Black Sea Security Conference in Bucharest brought together the three neighbouring countries’ foreign and defence ministers, government officials and international partners.

The aim was to address the wide-ranging impact that Moscow’s war in Ukraine is having on the region.

Nato member Romania’s foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu called Russia “the most direct and serious threat” to the Black Sea region and the Western alliance, and said war-torn Ukraine and embattled Moldova are “essential to our future European security”.

A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard has been identified by investigators as the main suspect in the leak of classified military intelligence online, according to reports.

Authorities are focussing on 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a member of the Guard’s intelligence wing, senior law enforcement sources told The New York Times and Washington Post.

Hundreds of pages of classified military intelligence have been shared with an online gaming group before becoming public in a string of disclosures last week.

No arrests or charges have been made in the case and investigators continue to collect evidence and are preparing for a prosecution, according to CNN.

Earlier, Joe Biden told reporters in Dublin, Ireland, that the US government was closing in on the leaker.

The scale of the leak was enormous – thousands of secret documents, some of the most sensitive and important held by United States intelligence, downloaded and put into the public domain in a huge blow to Western security (Kim Sengupta writes).

Classified information was downloaded from the computers of the National Security Agency (NSA) and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) by a civilian private contractor who had been vetted and provided with one of the highest forms of security clearance.

That was Edward Snowden, whose devastating disclosures were made almost exactly 10 years ago.

Now there is another huge security leak, from the Pentagon, almost certainly carried out by another civilian contractor.

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Russia may be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with the US after a court delivers its verdict, a top Russian diplomat said today.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass that talks about a possible exchange could take place through a dedicated channel that Russian and US security agencies established for such purposes.

“We have a working channel that was used in the past to achieve concrete agreements, and these agreements were fulfilled,” Mr Ryabkov said, adding that there was no need for the involvement of any third country.

However, he emphasised that Moscow would only negotiate a possible prisoner exchange after a court delivers its verdict in the espionage case against Mr Gershkovich, 31.

The journalist’s detention was widely expected to be used for leverage in prisoner swap discussions with the US.