Marta Gichko11:28, 03.04.25

The Russians are likely aware of US plans to conduct complex ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine.

The scandal involving the leak of classified information from the chats of top US officials on Signal is growing with new details. According to media reports, one of these chats discussed the war in Ukraine. The Russians could have obtained confidential information about this, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff suggested in an interview  with Foreign Policy.

He believes that the Signalgate data leak scandal should be investigated by Congress, with an independent inspector general appointed. None of the officials who were part of the chat should be involved in the investigation.

At the same time, there are many unanswered questions, the most important of which is how many other chats like this one took place in the unsecured commercial program? It is worth assuming that some of these conversations could have been accessed by attackers.

Information about the US strikes on Yemen has been leaked publicly. It is possible that agents in Yemen and other sources who helped plan the operation have been exposed. Therefore, all future US operations against the Houthis are at risk.

“But more broadly, our allies need to look at this and think again that the Trump administration cannot be trusted with sensitive intelligence because they will be reckless with it. I also worry that this is hardly the first time they have created a Signal chat like this. And if some of the public reports are true that other Signal chats were talking about the war in Ukraine, the Russians could have hacked those phones. Then the Russians know what we are thinking, how we hope to negotiate a ceasefire, how much pressure we are willing to put on Ukraine or Russia, what is real and what is talk or bluff. So maybe they were just hindering their efforts to achieve a ceasefire in that conflict,” Schiff said.

Senator Schiff, who was the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee for years, said he had spoken to people who were connected to the intelligence community about the leak. There are “big concerns about a whole range of things” among intelligence officials. In particular, concerns are related to personnel purges. They are trying to get rid of people from the intelligence community who are not full-fledged MAGA, that is, who are not full-fledged Trump supporters. People are also leaving on their own accord.

“You see the potential devastation of the intelligence community, career professionals, and you can just see the long-term impact of the politicization of the intelligence community. There has probably never been a more challenging time for people in the intelligence community,” he concluded.

Scandals surrounding Volz and leaks of secret information

Volz’s team came under scrutiny after he accidentally included a journalist in a group chat about military strikes in Yemen, sparking  a political scandal  and calls for his dismissal.

Subsequently, media outlets, citing sources, reported that Mike Volz’s team had created more than 20 group chats in Signal for crisis situations around the world, indicating the widespread use of this application by the Trump administration to coordinate national security issues.

According to four people added to these chats, they were used to discuss issues including Ukraine, China, Gaza, Africa, and Europe.

(C)UNIAN 2025