It’s being reported this morning that President Trump has just halted all intelligence sharing with Ukraine as he pressures the embattled country to pursue an end to the war.
Here’s the reporting via the Financial Times:
The US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces, according to officials familiar with the matter.
The move follows the decision on Monday by the Trump administration to suspend military aid deliveries to Ukraine and comes after a dramatic breakdown in relations between the US president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
US intelligence co-operation has been essential for Ukraine’s ability to identify and strike Russian military targets.
Three officials familiar with the decision confirmed that Washington had frozen intelligence channels with Kyiv.
While the US has also formally blocked its allies from sharing US intelligence with Ukraine, two officials said that recipients with assets inside the country were likely to continue passing on relevant intelligence to Kyiv. But that would not apply to time-sensitive and high-value intelligence, such as that needed for Ukraine to conduct precision strikes on moveable Russian targets.
It sounds to me like this is a move to help bring Russia to the negotiating table to end the war. It also pressures Ukraine to do the same by hampering their more aggressive war efforts.
In related news, President Trump may in fact restore US spending to Ukraine, which he cut off yesterday, if certain measures are met.
Via Reuters:
President Donald Trump will consider restoring aid to Ukraine if peace talks are arranged and confidence-building measures are taken, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Wednesday.
“I think if we can nail down these negotiations and move towards these negotiations, and in fact, put some confidence-building measures on the table, then the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.
