The NYT reports what the Deep State instructs it to report. The NYT is reporting the CIA and larger IC apparatus, which includes the State Dept., has been heavily controlling all activity in Ukraine for the past decade. They don’t go as far as admitting their role in the color revolution (a CIA specialty), but that is pretty well established.
The fact that Ukraine is a proxy province of the Deep State is being admitted because the growing public opposition to that continued policy agenda is a problem. The IC needs to change the narrative urgently.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html