Who has been saying this? First time I've heard it. The closest I've heard is that there's two versions of the "leak", one with modified numbers making it look better for Russia. Which still appears to be true.
> We have US troops on the ground presumably fighting Russia
Does not appear to be true. What are you basing this on?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/us/politics/classified-do...
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation wrote about it https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-military-leaks-...
One of the first reactions from the government and Ukraine was that this was all Russian disinformation. Then within a couple of days other media sources weighed in and there was considerable debate, until this guy was identified.
So yes. Many people have hypothesized this was Russian disinformation.
Here's two more: Al Jazerra: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/10/us-scrambles-to-fin...
and NBC: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/pentagon-...
> "Let's not forget both the media and the government have spent the last couple of weeks on a gaslighting tour telling us the leak was Russian propaganda, etc."
They all call it a leak and specify that parts of it appear doctored, which is also what I said, right? Has any of that changed or been disproven?