The Trump administration has ordered a partial cutoff of crucial intelligence that the United States shares with Ukraine to defend against Russian invasion, a U.S. military official has said.
Statements from National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and CIA Director John Ratcliffe earlier indicated that there is a pause in intelligence sharing, but the extent of the restrictions was not clear, A2 reports.
Both officials also suggested that the pause could be short-lived if the President can be satisfied that Ukraine has taken steps toward negotiations to end the war, a controversial effort that appeared to fall apart after Friday's fiery Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"We're pausing, we're evaluating, we're looking at everything in our security relationship," National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told CBS News, when asked directly about intelligence sharing with Kiev.
However, Waltz told reporters after the interview that he spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on the phone, and he projected optimism about the state of the talks since Zelensky issued a statement yesterday saying he is willing to negotiate peace: “We are having good talks about the location of the next round of negotiations, about the delegations. So just in the last 24 hours since the public statement by Zelensky, and then the subsequent conversations, which I will go into and continue, I think we will see movement in a very short time.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe also suggested in an interview on Fox Business that the freeze on intelligence sharing could end soon. If the freeze is total and lasting, multiple sources familiar with information shared with Ukraine during the last three years of the war said, it could deal a devastating blow to Kiev’s ability to fight. “It’s very bad,” a source familiar with the deal said, CNN quoted him as saying. “Combined with the freeze on military aid and foreign aid, it pretty much guarantees a Russian victory without having to have a peace deal.”
A US military official said the US is now providing fewer surveillance flights to the Ukrainians, as well as less satellite coverage – both of which are essential to Ukraine's ability to defend its cities against Russian missile attacks. (A2 Televizion)
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