Why would "senior American officials" ever tell the New York Times they are helping Ukrainians kill Russian generals? What U.S. interest does it serve?
I am really asking because I want to know a plausible story to explain why officials talked. I'm not being rhetorical. I just can't see why, if the U.S. is doing that, it would be in American or Ukrainian interest to not keep it secret.
This plays right into Putin's hands with his claim that Russia is not fighting Ukraine, it is fighting the U.S. It also implicitly undercuts the story of extreme and surprising competence that the Ukrainian government has carefully cultivated throughout this conflict (the story doesn't make Ukraine seem incompetent. But if they are getting help from the U.S. it makes some of their successes seem a bit less amazing). Sure, the story is a signal to Russia that the U.S. is strongly backing Ukraine in this conflict. But didn't all the sanctions and openly supplying Ukraine with advanced weaponry and training already send that signal?
It just looks like letting this story get out is a blunder on the part of the Biden Administration. If I'm missing something, prove me wrong.
