Putin Ally Thanked for 'Tip' Exposing Russian Troops' Positions

A Ukrainian journalist has thanked an ally of President Vladimir Putin for a "tip" that may have accidentally exposed the location of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

In a post on Telegram that now appears to be deleted, an adviser to the governor of Russia's Oryol region, Sergei Lezhnev, published photos and videos on November 14 of a location where "humanitarian aid" was being unloaded in the city of Kreminna, in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk. The next day, the area was reportedly attacked by Ukraine's Armed Forces. There were no injuries.

Kyiv in early June kickstarted a long-planned operation to recapture Russian-occupied areas, which includes eastern Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also vowed to recapture Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Putin in 2014.

"Thank you for the tip, Sergey Lezhnev," wrote Ukrainian journalist Alexey Artyukh on Telegram, thanking Lezhnev for his posts, which can be seen in screenshots.

Lezhnev also came under fire for his posts, with some accusing the adviser to the regional governor of "disclosing the location" of the Russian Armed Forces and allegedly provoking Ukraine's forces to attack the area, daily newspaper Kommersant reported. The publication noted that Lezhnev publishes photo and video reports on the delivery of goods on his channel almost daily.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

The newspaper cited Lezhnev as rejecting accusations that he had disclosed the positions of Russian troops through his posts on Telegram, though he did acknowledge that he regularly posts photos.

"Those who watch my channel know that we deliver humanitarian aid to the Kreminna area. We distribute water, vegetables, stoves from trucks simply on the road, on an ordinary road that connects a number of cities," he said.

"And what they shot at was a zone of a special military operation, how could it be otherwise. There is a real war going on there," the adviser said.

Russian military correspondent Alexander Kots wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian troops could use these images to their advantage. Kots said he immediately recognized in Lezhnev's posts a familiar gas station located in front of a checkpoint at the entrance to Kreminna.

"The enemy saw it too, because he was here. Everything here is familiar to him. That's why he struck at familiar coordinates for good luck," Kots said.

Kots said the Ukrainian military and civilians are involved in monitoring social media "on a voluntary basis."

"They sift through a huge amount of information every day in search of easy prey," he added.

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