JRL NEWSWATCH: “The secret planning that kept the White House a step ahead of Russia” – Washington Post
“… The Ukraine threat got red-hot in October, when the United States gathered intelligence about a renewed Russian buildup on the border …. This operational detail ‘was really the eye opener.’ The Group of 20 … were meeting at the end of October … and [the U.S. gave] … Britain, France and Germany … a detailed readout on … top-secret evidence. … U.S. intelligence provided Ukraine with a preview of Putin’s battle plan. Though Russia had surrounded Ukraine with 150,000 troops, Putin’s real strategy was a lightning, decapitating strike on Kyiv by a relatively small group of elite special forces. …”