US intelligence helping Ukraine kill Russian generals, report says

US officials have reportedly confirmed they are providing intelligence that has helped Ukrainian forces target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in the Ukraine war.

The claim in the New York Times, quoting unnamed defence officials, appears to confirm suspicions the US is supplying actionable intelligence in real time to help the Ukrainian military select high-value targets.

The acknowledgment of US intelligence assistance in targeting Russian forces, which comes on top of another $20bn (£16bn) in promised weapons to Ukraine from Washington, is a further escalation in what is increasingly becoming a proxy war between the US, with its western allies, and Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Thursday it was well aware that the US, Britain and other Nato countries were constantly feeding intelligence to the Ukrainian military and that this would not stop Russia from achieving its objectives.

Ukrainian officials said they had killed about 12 Russian generals on the battlefield. The most recent fatality apparently occurred at the weekend with the reported death of Maj Gen Andrei Simonov, a Russian electronic warfare commander, who Ukraine said it killed near the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region, which is occupied by Russian forces.

Justifying the sharp increase in military assistance to Ukraine last month, the US president, Joe Biden, made it clear Washington wanted to help shape conditions to assist Ukrainian forces in the current phase of the war, as Moscow has pivoted from its failed attempt to take Kyiv to focus on eastern and southern regions of the country.

The New York Times reported the Biden administration had sought to keep much intelligence secret to avoid provoking Vladimir Putin into a wider war. That cautious calculation appears to have changed in recent weeks, as countries have voiced overt support for Ukraine and supplied far more lethal equipment, including much-needed artillery and ammunition.