Google has been accused by Ukrainian defence chiefs of accidentally revealing the location of key military positions following an update to its Maps tool.

Moscow had already started “actively distributing” the images for the benefit of Russian forces, said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation unit at the National Security Council.

Lt Kovalenko expressed anger at what he viewed as the tech giant’s irresponsibility.

“Imagine the situation. Google displays updated images of maps showing the location of our military systems. We are contacting them to fix it quickly,” he said on Telegram.

“The Russians are already actively dispersing these pictures. What is wrong with this world?” he added.

In a later statement, Lt Kovalenko said that Google representatives had “reached out” to Ukraine and were working to rectify the issue.

He did not specify which of Ukraine’s military sites were exposed on Google Maps, a navigational tool that freely provides users with satellite imagery and aerial pictures.