But Russian military bloggers appeared to confirm Google’s intelligence leak, publishing screenshots that, they claimed, showed new air defense systems surrounding an airport near Kiev.
These were identified in a Google satellite photo from September 28, 2023, as American-made Patriot anti-aircraft missiles. They were missing from an earlier Google satellite photo.
A so-called Z blogger, a term used to describe Russian nationalists before the war, reposted Lt. Kovalenko’s complaint and then wrote, next to a laughing emoji: “Tomorrow comes and you will be killed.”
The Telegraph contacted Google for comment, but neither the company nor its parent company Alphabet were immediately available for comment.
The intelligence leak of Ukrainian missile defense systems is the latest setback for Kiev’s armed forces.