The U.S. has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, two American officials said, in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces.
The decision to cut off intelligence-sharing and military aid to Ukraine starkly illustrates the Trump administration’s willingness to play hardball with an ally to force it to the negotiating table as relations between the countries grew strained.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters Wednesday morning that the U.S. “had taken a step back” and that the administration was “reviewing all aspects” of its intelligence relationship with Ukraine.
Three sources familiar with the situation also confirmed to Reuters that U.S. intelligence-sharing had stopped. It was not immediately clear to what extent the U.S. had cut back on the sharing.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, in an interview with Fox Business Network, characterized the development as a pause.
“I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause, I think will go away,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business Network.
Reaction times could be impacted, expert says
The U.S. has provided critical intelligence to Ukraine for its fight against Moscow’s forces, including information that helped thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to seize Kyiv at the start of his full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The White House on Monday halted military aid to Kyiv following a disastrous Oval Office meeting on Friday in which U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice-President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in a heated confrontation before the world’s media. The clash delayed the signing of a framework for a U.S.-Ukraine investment fund to extract minerals in Ukraine.
Some experts said the U.S. intelligence-sharing suspension would hurt Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian forces, which occupy about 20 per cent of the country’s territory. Trump, while on the campaign trail, was critical of American weapons being used for strikes inside Russian territory.
“Unfortunately, our dependence in this regard is quite serious, starting with missile threats, missile attacks and ending with what is happening in Russia, in the temporarily occupied territories in terms of launching strikes,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies.
Some of the loss could be offset through purchases of commercial satellite imagery, but only military satellites could pinpoint missile launches, he said.
The intelligence suspension also will complicate Ukraine’s defences against Russian air and missile strikes, Bielieskov said, which regularly have hit civilian buildings like schools and hospitals, killing hundreds of non-combatants.
“We will have less time to react, more destruction, potentially more casualties, it will all weaken us very, very much,” he said.
Cautious optimism concerning renewed talks
European countries are scrambling to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after the military aid freeze fuelled doubts about Washington’s commitment to its European NATO allies.
Prior to the Oval Office blowup, Trump also ended Putin’s isolation through phone calls with the Russian leader and talks between Russian and U.S. aides in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from which Ukraine and its European allies were excluded.
Trump, in his address to Congress on Tuesday night, said Kyiv was ready to sign a deal on exploiting Ukraine’s critical mineral deposits, which the U.S. leader has demanded to repay the costs of U.S. military aid. He provided no further information.
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Trump also said he had been in “serious discussions with Russia” and had received strong signals that they were ready for peace.
“It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars you have to talk to both sides,” he said.
Waltz also said that the U.S. was actively engaged in talks with Ukraine about moving negotiations forward on a minerals deal and a potential peace deal with Russia.
“I think we’re going to see movement in very short order,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Wednesday that there had been “positive movement” in co-operation with the U.S., and that he expects results next week involving a future meeting between the two sides.
Separately, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Yermak said on X that he and Waltz had also “exchanged views on security issues and the alignment of positions,” and scheduled a meeting of Ukrainian and U.S. officials in the near future “to continue this important work.”
