WASHINGTON — The incident was nothing short of a debacle.
A U.S. Army general, responsible for coordinating military aid to Ukraine during its ongoing conflict, misplaced classified maps while traveling by train across Europe last spring, as detailed in a critical watchdog report published last week.
Maj. Gen. Antonio Aguto, who led the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine from December 2022 to August 2024, had entrusted these sensitive maps to his team during their return journey to Germany following a visit to Ukraine.
On April 4, 2024, Aguto’s team accidentally left the maps on a train in Poland, causing a temporary state of alarm. Fortunately, the maps were retrieved the next day when the train made its way back to Kyiv.
“I frequently relied on these maps to brief officials on the situation in Ukraine, which is my primary duty,” Aguto stated to the Department of War Office of the Inspector General, as cited in their comprehensive 56-page report.
The investigation also pointed out that the maps had been inadequately packed in an unsecured cylindrical tube, highlighting that “the maps were too large to be properly wrapped, and the tube was not sufficiently sized.”
Aguto also ran afoul of a July 2022 order issued by then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink that stated only diplomatic couriers could bring classified material into the country.
When interviewed, Brink confirmed to Pentagon investigators that Aguto had to “abide by our security rules, which includes a particular way of handling classified material.”
Another unidentified military official said that Aguto “should have had them courier[ed] in, either by one of our own couriers … through the appropriate process or have the embassy team do that.”
Aguto took responsibility for the misplaced maps, though he pointed out to investigators that his staff “generally don’t let me carry my bags, let alone a map case.”
The general was also reported for appearing intoxicated during a meeting with Brink and then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 14, 2024.
The night before, during a dinner with a Ukrainian military official, Aguto downed some chacha, a type of Eastern European brandy that contains at least 40% alcohol by volume.
“As a general rule,” Aguto told investigators, “you start off the dinner with an alcoholic beverage, and then you drink through the night, or through the meal.”
Aguto acknowledged that he had been “some level of intoxicated,” and one witness estimated that he drank “approximately two bottles of chacha throughout the course of the night.”
After Aguto returned to his hotel room, he fell and hit his head at least twice. When he turned up for meetings the next morning, one witness said the general “looked very sluggish” and was “having a hard time walking straight.”
Aguto took another fall during a trip to the US Embassy that day, “striking his right elbow and his jaw on the concrete sidewalk.”
He was described as “cognitively diminished” during the meeting with Blinken and was later diagnosed with a concussion.
Aguto retired from the military after departing his Security Assistance Group command.
