The United States halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday, a move that could weaken the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces on the battlefield.
Ratcliffe confirmed the “pause” following earlier media reports, saying that U.S. President Donald Trump “had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process.”
However, the CIA director added that he thought the pause would “go away,” given that Zelensky had expressed a willingness to negotiate a peace settlement with Russia in a letter sent to Trump and shared on X.
“I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, as we have, to push back on the aggression that’s there, but to put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business on Wednesday.
The intelligence freeze follows Trump’s decision Monday to suspend military aid to Ukraine, increasing pressure on Ukrainian officials to enter peace talks with Russia. Moscow welcomed that decision, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it a “solution which could really push the Kyiv regime toward a peace process.”
Earlier, the Financial Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the intelligence freeze blocks time-sensitive and high-value information that could help Ukraine strike mobile Russian targets. However, some U.S. allies with intelligence assets inside Ukraine were expected to continue providing “relevant intelligence,” the report added.
An unnamed Ukrainian source cited by Sky News said the suspension is “selective,” allowing for some intelligence sharing on Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Bloomberg separately cited an anonymous Ukrainian official as saying that Kyiv continues to receive intelligence from Washington.
Trump said in his address to Congress Tuesday night that Zelensky indicated he is ready “to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” as well as to sign a minerals deal with the United States.
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