The Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine was going to strike at the cities of the Russian Federation, including Moscow, on the anniversary of the start of a full-scale invasion of the Russian troops. According to The Washington Post, this became known from a leak of secret Pentagon documents.
Major General Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, ordered one of his officers to “prepare for mass strikes on February 24 <…> using everything the GUR has,” according to a classified report by the US National Security Agency.
The document states, in particular, that it is planned to strike with the use of TNT on the Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk.
The document is dated 13 February. On that day, the US State Department urged Americans to leave Russia immediately.
However, on February 22, two days before the anniversary of the start of the war, the CIA circulated a new secret document stating that the GUR "agreed, at the request of Washington, to postpone strikes" on Russia. Why such a decision was made is not specified in the documents.
The publication notes that, apparently, Western intelligence is listening to Budanov's negotiations. During his past interviews with the Washington Post at the headquarters of the GUR, he turned on music or static noise.