April 2023 leaked military documents and UK military personnel in Ukraine
Dear Ministry of Defence,
As you will be aware from numerous news reports in national and international media outlets military planning documents related to the status of the armed conflict in Ukraine have been leaked online.
These documents appear to confirm that US, UK, and NATO military personnel are directly participating in the conflict within Ukraine.
Please provide PDF copies of the following records
1. All ministerial and/or CDS operational directives related to any UK , NATO or partner military operations involving UK military personnel inside Ukraine since 2014.
2. All legal frameworks for such operations since 2014.
3. All Rules of Engagement (ROE) for such operations since 2014.
4. All ministerial submissions related to such operations since 2014.
5. All Targeting Directives related to such operations since 2014 including authorised levels of
loss of civilian life for each target since 2014.
6. All pre-strike and post-strike Battle Damage Estimates and Assessments since 2014.
7. All pre-strike and post strike Collateral Damage Estimates and Collateral Damage Asssessments since 2014.
Yours faithfully,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Ceri Gibbons,
Please find attached a response to your Freedom of Information Request to
the Ministry of Defence.
Yours sincerely,
Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia Secretariat, Ministry of Defence
Dear SPO RWE-Secretariat (MULTIUSER),
Thank you for your response to my request FOI2023 04707
As advised I wish to reduce the scope of my request to the following 3 part request
1 All ministerial and/or CDS operational directives related to any UK , NATO or partner
military operations involving UK military personnel inside Ukraine since 2014.
2. All legal frameworks for such operations since 2014.
3. All Rules of Engagement (ROE) for such operations since 2014.
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear SPO RWE-Secretariat (MULTIUSER),
Please provide a response to this request within the next 7 days.
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'April 2023 leaked military documents and UK military personnel in Ukraine'.
1. MOD applied section 16 .
2. I accepted this and confined the scope of my request to enable MOD to process it within the cost limit.
3. Despite this concession MOD has not responded to my confined request within the statutory time limit.
This is a breach of MOD obligations under FOIA 2000.
Please review and ensure this request is processed.
Yours faithfully,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear SPO RWE-Secretariat (MULTIUSER),
FOI2023 04707
Please update me on progress of this internal review.
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Thank you for your email dated 23 June 2023 requesting an internal review for a refined request of FOI2023/04707. I can advise that the reference number for the new request is FOI2023/06196.
The Department's target for completing internal reviews is 20 working days and we therefore aim to complete the review and respond to you by 13 July 2023. While we are working hard to achieve this, in the interests of providing you with a more realistic indication of when you should expect a response, we should advise that the majority are currently taking between 20 and 40 working days to complete.
The internal review will involve a full, independent reconsideration of the handling of the Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act as well as the final decision.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),
Please note I requested this internal review on 14 June 2023 not 23 June 2023
See copy of email IR request below
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'April 2023 leaked military documents and UK military personnel in Ukraine'.
1. MOD applied section 16 .
2. I accepted this and confined the scope of my request to enable MOD to process it within the cost limit.
3. Despite this concession MOD has not responded to my confined request within the statutory time limit.
This is a breach of MOD obligations under FOIA 2000.
Please review and ensure this request is processed.
Yours faithfully,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Mr Gibbons,
I apologise for the error, I can confirm that we received your request for review on 14 June 2023, however the 20 working day deadline remains as 13 July 2023. As a reminder, while we are working hard to achieve this, in the interests of providing you with a more realistic indication of when you should expect a response, we should advise that the majority are currently taking between 20 and 40 working days to complete.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Please find attached a response to your request for internal review.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
Dear Ceri Gibbons
Please find attached a response to your Freedom of Information request to
the Ministry of Defence.
Yours sincerely
The Ministry of Defence
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'April 2023 leaked military documents and UK military personnel in Ukraine'.
I challenge the application of section 12 in this case for the following reasons:
1. To assist the MOD, the request has already been narrowed and limited to (1) All ministerial and/or CDS operational directives related to any UK , NATO or partner military operations involving UK military personnel inside Ukraine since 2014, (2) All legal frameworks for such operations since 2014, and (3) All Rules of Engagement (ROE) for such operations since 2014.
2. The request is clearly discreet and limited to "operations involving UK military personnel inside Ukraine since 2014". As the government has made no statement to parliament of UK active or direct participation in the armed conflict in Ukraine, the number of such operations must by definition be limited to a small number .
3. The public interest case for disclosure of this information is clearly overwhelming in light of the questions raised by the leaked documents over the involvement of UK personnel in the catastrophic conflict in Ukraine, at a time when western countries, including the UK are increasing the supply of munitions to the horrific conflict, rather than making real efforts to secure its end by diplomatic means. These weapons include US supplied cluster munitions, banned by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which the UK is a legal party, and has brought into UK domestic law under the Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Act 2010. Serious questions arise therfore as to the assistance UK personnel have provided to Ukrainian forces for the use of these indiscriminate munitions since 2014 and how such assistance complies with UK international obligations.
4. The continued escalation of the war in Ukraine not only wastes the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians, it also threatens the entire world with nuclear war, a war no-one can win. The public and parliament must be properly informed with regard to the extent of UK personnel involvement in operations in Ukraine. The suggestion by the MOD that there have been a large number of operations involving UK military personnel in Ukraine since 2014 only adds to concerns that the public and parliemant have not been properly informed, and adds to the weight of public interest in favour of disclosure of the requested information.
5. Please conduct an internal review of this case taking into account the above points.
Yours faithfully,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Receipt is acknowledged of your email of 11 July 2023 requesting an
internal review of a response provided under the Freedom of Information
Act, dated 6 July (our reference above).
The Department's target for completing internal reviews is 20 working days
from date of receipt and we therefore aim to complete the review and
respond to you by 10 August. While we are working hard to achieve this, in
the interests of providing you with a realistic indication of when you
should expect a response, the majority are currently taking between 20 and
40 working days to complete.
The review will involve an independent assessment of the handling of this
request and the outcome.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),
FOI 06196
Please provide MOD's internal review response in this case
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Thank you for your enquiry. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide you with a completed internal review at this moment, although we can confirm that it is being actively worked upon. We are aiming to provide you with the outcome by 8 September, which will be at the 40-day processing point. As you may be aware there is, in fact, no statutory obligation to complete an internal review within 20 or even 40 days.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),
FOI 06196
Please provide MOD's internal review response in this case within 7 calandar days, (by end of 20th September 2023) or I will be forced to refer the case to the ICO.
Please provide an
Yours sincerely,
Ceri Gibbons
Dear Mr Gibbons,
Unfortunately, we are still not in a position to provide you with a completed internal review at this moment. However, we can confirm the internal review of the case is nearly complete and we hope to be in a position to send you the outcome very soon. We shall, of course, give every assistance to the ICO should they contact us about this case.
Yours sincerely,
MOD Information Rights Compliance Team
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