The article is surprisingly flimsy on details and heavy on fact-obfuscation and reliance on anonymous sources. I’m left with the same level of uncertainty as I began with.
The argument and conclusion that Ukraine would divert its resources and act against its allies while it was desperately defending against Russia and Belarus are preposterous. Ukraine was not acting outside its own borders at the time, while Russia is well-known to having no respect for other sovereigns.
Could 6 sole actors + 1 support staff, run a clandestine operation that was so wildly successful ?
Seems like the answer is yes. A stupidly simple plan provided you have depth in professional, loyal staff, and some legacy resources for covert travel as a state actor.
It follows that such a hodgepodge ops would not have needed much in terms of TPS reporting, documented approvals, and just overall bureaucracy. Therefore, not much detail other than what they say is expected. Unless you have access to the 7 or so individuals identified.
Could they be patsies? Sure. But the story seems to fit the mold.
What's crazy is that if they had dropped their phones, they would have likely never been found out.