A media report on Sunday said that classified documents from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) were discovered at a bus stop in south-eastern England. The documents reportedly contained secret information about a warship and the British military.

The MoD said an employee reported the loss of the documents last week, which were discovered by a member of the public in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning, the BBC report said.

One set of documents reportedly discusses the likely Russian reaction to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday. The other discusses plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led NATO operation there ends this year, news agency PTI reported.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further,” PTI quoted an MoD spokesperson as saying. The spokesperson said that an investigation has been launched.

A member of the public, who wishes to remain anonymous, found the 50-odd pages of documents and contacted the BBC when he realised the sensitive nature of the contents.

According to a BBC report, the documents came from the office of a senior official at the MoD.

The documents relating to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, show that a mission described by the MoD as an “innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters”, with guns covered and the ship’s helicopter stowed in its hangar, was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively.

The bundle of documents also includes updates on arms exports campaigns, including sensitive observations about areas where Britain might find itself competing with European allies.

Most of the papers are marked “official sensitive”, a relatively low level of classification used, according to the government, “where there is a clear and justifiable requirement to reinforce the ‘need to know'”.

But one document, addressed to UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace‘s private secretary, and marked “Secret UK Eyes Only”, outlines highly sensitive recommendations for the UK’s military footprint in Afghanistan.

The document discusses an American request for British assistance in several specific areas, and addresses the question of whether any British special forces will remain in Afghanistan once the withdrawal is complete.

Due to the sensitivity of the document, the BBC said it has decided not to report details that could endanger the security of British and other personnel in Afghanistan.