This month's Discord leak of U.S. intelligence documents about the war in Ukraine has reignited a long-running debate about the conflict: Does U.S. aid to Kyiv amount to a proxy war against Russia?
The papers "illustrate how deeply the United States is involved in virtually every aspect of the war," wrote Washington Post senior national security correspondent Karen DeYoung in an able summary of the "proxy war" controversy. "The leaked documents confirm in detail that the United States is using its vast array of espionage and surveillance tools— including cutting-edge satellites and signals intelligence—to keep Kyiv ahead of Moscow's war plans and help them inflict Russian casualties." It's enough that, were three different countries involved in the same situation, we'd likely reach for the "proxy war" label with ease.