The Trump administration’s halt of intelligence sharing with Ukraine impacts warnings about Russian drone and missile strikes against both military and civilian targets, the New York Times reported on 5 March, citing a person briefed on the situation.
“Everything that came from the Defense Department has stopped,” said Valeriy Kondratiuk, former head of HUR, one of Ukraine’s intelligence services.
The US intelligence sharing pause went alongside a freeze in military aid for Ukraine after the heated argument between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on 28 February over the end of the war in Ukraine and security guarantees for the country. US President said after the meeting that “Zelenskyy is not ready for peace” and said to come when “he would be ready.”
These US actions of halting aid and intelligence sharing reportedly represent part of a broader pressure campaign to compel Ukraine’s government to cooperate with White House plans to end the war with Russia.
Trump administration officials described the pauses as a warning to Ukraine about consequences of not cooperating with Trump’s peace plan, though specific details of this plan remain unclear.
Ukrainian President said on 4 March that his meeting with the US President “did not go the way it was supposed to be,” calling the fallout “regrettable.”
“Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians,” Zelensky said, expressing readiness to sign the agreement on minerals and security “at any time and in any convenient format.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed the intelligence sharing pause but suggested it could be short-lived if Ukraine returns to negotiations.
National Security Adviser Michael Waltz told reporters at the White House that the United States had “taken a step back” and was “pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship.” He predicted “movement in very short order” after speaking with his Ukrainian counterpart.
A senior Ukrainian official said that while the pause would complicate efforts to strike Russian forces, Kyiv’s military maintains access to other satellite imagery sources. Kondratiuk added that the pause “mostly concerns the exchange of imagery” but “isn’t critical because European companies have their own satellites.”
Democrats criticized the decision to pause intelligence assistance. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the move “unforgivable,” saying that intelligence sharing between Washington and Kyiv had saved civilian and military lives.
Russian army attacks Ukraine daily with various types of weapons, targeting civilian infrastructure, killing civilians and destroying hospitals, schools, kindergartens, energy and water supply facilities.
European Command confirmed it also received orders to pause security assistance to Ukraine’s military, suspending delivery of promised military equipment and securing materials already in Ukraine.
According to Daily Mail, the US has also banned all British intelligence agencies and military services to share US intelligence with Ukrainians, known as Rel Ukraine – Releasable to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Britain and Western allies such as Australia and New Zealand have been sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
UK military intelligence expert Phil Ingram told the Mail: “The United States’s instruction to stop allies sharing US-derived intelligence with Ukraine is what I would expect.”
Read also:
- “Defend yourself by yourself.” Telegraph predicts Zelenskyy will leave EU summit with warm words, not troops
- The Guardian: Military experts push for European Sky Shield to protect Ukrainian nuclear plants from Russian strikes
- Russian missile destroys hotel, kills two, while US aid pause threatens Ukraine’s air defenses
