In another shocking development for Ukraine, the United States has now stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. After recent efforts by Donald Trump to negotiate a peace deal to halt the Russia Ukraine war. CIA Director John Ratcliffe has now confirmed that intelligence sharing with Ukraine has been halted. The development has come at the back of reports that the US had suspended military assistance, to Kiev including both the purchase of new weapons and shipments already in progress.
The much vaunted relationship between Ukraine and USA seems to be breaking down by the minute, especially since the shocking interaction between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Zelensky had apparently landed in Washington to find some kind of an agreement with the US as Donald Trump had long been advocating for a peace deal to be cut between Ukraine and Russia. Trump had also been looking to sign a mineral deal with Kiev to ascertain a defined future for the two nations.
However the meeting turned into a verbal spat with the Vice President JD Vance and Zelensky exchanging tense dialogues. The result was that Zelensky left America without signing any deal and with a fast deteriorating relationship between the two nations. Now the US seems to be slowly pulling out of its commitments to Ukraine.
After cutting military aid to Ukraine, now reports are indicating that Washington is going a step further. When asked whether the US had “cut off” its cooperation with Ukraine, CIA Director Ratcliffe said that US President Donald Trump had “asked for a pause” to see if Kiev was ready to work toward resolving the conflict with Russia.
“President Trump had a real question whether… Zelensky was committed to a peace process,” Ratcliffe said, claiming that the halt to assistance and information sharing contributed to Zelensky publicly stating that he was “ready for peace.”
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader had said that Kiev was ready for an immediate POW release and a temporary ceasefire with a “ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure.” Last week, Trump told reporters that Zelensky needed to be ready for an immediate ceasefire before he could be welcomed back to the US following their Oval Office debacle on Friday.
The move has now made it difficult for Ukraine to launch attacks against targets deep inside Russia, a report read, elaborating that later the same day Washington had halted the flow of intelligence completely. “A few hours ago, the exchange of all information was stopped,” a Ukrainian source told Sky.
Apart from not sharing information directly, Washington has also reportedly barred its allies from sharing with Ukraine, Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Recipients with assets inside Ukraine itself were likely to continue to pass on relevant information, the paper said, but Kiev would likely miss out on time-sensitive and high-value intelligence it needed to strike moveable Russian targets.
US intelligence assistance is vital for Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets. Ukrainians use the information when operating US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and the US Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS. Intelligence from the US and other allies also helps Ukraine prepare for Russian attacks, and supplied critical information in the war’s early days that allowed Ukraine to thwart Russian attacks.
The fallout from Zelensky’s disastrous US visit was expected, Trump and Zelensky had a heated verbal exchange on Friday, when the US president accused the Ukrainian leader of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III” by refusing to work towards a halt to hostilities. Several US outlets reported that Trump had paused military aid after the fall out. According to the NYT, the president’s order affected more than $1 billion in “arms and ammunition in the pipeline and on order.”
Meanwhile Russia has lauded these developments. Responding to the reports Moscow said that if the US were to suspend supplies altogether it would “probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.” It would be seen how much can these moves affect an push Ukraine towards a compromise deal with Russia, putting an end to the long drawn war.
