Google Maps ‘reveals location’ of secret Ukrainian military positions

Kyiv says Moscow had already started ‘actively distributing’ the images for the benefit of Russian forces

Google has been accused by Ukrainian defence chiefs of accidentally revealing the location of key military positions following an update to its Maps tool.
Moscow had already started “actively distributing” the images for the benefit of Russian forces, said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation unit at the National Security Council.
Lt Kovalenko expressed anger at what he viewed as the tech giant’s irresponsibility.
“Imagine the situation. Google displays updated images of maps showing the location of our military systems. We are contacting them to fix it quickly,” he said on Telegram.
“The Russians are already actively dispersing these pictures. What is wrong with this world?” he added.
In a later statement, Lt Kovalenko said that Google representatives had “reached out” to Ukraine and were working to rectify the issue.
He did not specify which of Ukraine’s military sites were exposed on Google Maps, a navigational tool that freely provides users with satellite imagery and aerial pictures.
But Russian military bloggers appeared to confirm the intelligence leak by Google, publishing screenshots that, they claimed, showed new air defence systems ringing an airport near Kyiv.
These were identified as US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missiles from a Google satellite photo dated Sept 28 2023. They were missing in an earlier Google satellite photograph.
One so-called Z blogger, a term used to describe pro-war Russian nationalists, reposted Lt Kovalenko’s complaint and then, next to a laughing emoji, wrote: “Tomorrow will come and then you will be killed.”
The Telegraph contacted Google for a response but neither it nor its parent company Alphabet were immediately available for comment.
The intelligence leak of Ukrainian missile defence systems is the latest setback for Kyiv’s forces.
Over the weekend, Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military said that his soldiers were now facing down one of the most intense Russian offensives since the start of the war.
Adding to concerns, Western intelligence said up to 13,000 North Korean soldiers are poised to join the fight for the Kremlin under a “mutual military assistance” deal agreed between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
The troops are expected to enter into battle in Russia’s Kursk region which Ukraine invaded in August but are waiting for Russia’s Upper House of Parliament to rubber-stamp the deal between Kim and Putin.
However, Lt Kovalenko said on Telegram that North Korean soldiers had already come under fire in the Russian village of Kurshchnya.
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin received Choe Son-hui, the visiting North Korean foreign minister.
She thanked Putin for finding the time to meet with her and he replied: “Well, today is a holiday, and meeting with friends on a holiday is a very good tradition.”
Ms Choe has been in Moscow for five days and has held a series of meetings that analysts have said are building up to the launch of North Korean soldiers into the war.
She has also told Russian officials that Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, has said he considers Russia’s war in Ukraine to be a “holy war” and will support it until its end.
Near the frontlines in eastern Ukraine, police reported that three people have been killed in a strike by a Russian “glide bomb” on a residential area in the Kharkiv region.