CIA director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that sharing intelligence news with Ukraine was suspended alongside military aid to pressure the government to cooperate with the Trump administration's plan to end the country's war with Russia.
Speaking about Fox's business, Ratriv praised President Trump on Tuesday for a statement by Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelensky, claiming he supported peace with Russia. Ratcliffe said he thought intelligence sharing would resume.
“President Zelensky issued a statement saying, “I am ready for peace and I hope that President Donald Trump's leadership will bring that peace,” Ratcliffe said. “And I think it's going to disappear, on the military front and the intelligence front that allowed it to happen, I think it's going to disappear. And I think we'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine as we have and push back the attacks there.”
His comments were echoed by national security adviser Michael Waltz, who told White House reporters that the US has “taken a step back” and that he is “suspending and reviewing every aspect of this relationship.”
US officials said the suspension stopped all military targeting information from being shared with Ukraine. A senior Ukrainian official said the suspension of sharing would make strikes against Russian troops even more difficult, but Kiev's troops have access to other satellite images.
The suspension also affected some intelligence regarding advance warnings for drone and missile strikes that Russia is taking place against military and civilian targets.
“Everything that came from the Department of Defense has stopped,” said Valeriy Kondratiuk, former head of Hur, one of Ukraine's intelligence reporting agencies. “This is primarily related to image exchanges. This is not important as European companies have their own satellites, but not all of these focus on military dislocations and movements.
The CIA has a significant presence in the country. There, I work with Ukrainians to help target them.
Some officers are deployed at Ukrainian bases, reviewing a list of potential Russian targets that Ukrainians are preparing for strikes, and verifying that Ukrainians are accurate compared to the US intelligence reporting agency.
The CIA also helped Ukrainians build at least three secret signal intelligence collection bases. This was used by Ukrainians to intercept Russian communications, reducing their dependence on the US on intelligence.
Some U.S. officials said there is hope that the suspension of intelligence sharing is very short and has little practical impact. A Trump administration official said the initial plan was to suspend sharing of military and intelligence news for a week or two as part of a campaign to put pressure on Zelensky.
It was not clear whether the Ukrainian president's statement on Tuesday would be sufficient to resume aid. Trump praised Zelensky in his speech to Congress that night, but some of the Trump administration hopes the Ukrainian president will remove officials from governments that the White House sees as hostile to negotiations with Russians. The Trump administration also hopes that Zelensky will sign a deal that gives the United States access to Ukrainian mineral rights.
The Trump administration has steadily increased pressure on Ukraine, but has not stopped attacks on Russia. The Russian army continues to attack Ukrainian cities every day.
Ratcliffe said Wednesday that Trump called for a pause in intelligence sharing. And his comments suggested that the CIA had briefly put some of its information sharing with Ukraine on hold. Waltz said he spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart and predicted “moves in a very short order.”
Previously on Fox News, Waltz said the suspension would be lifted if Ukraine signaled that it was ready to negotiate a ceasefire.
“If we can identify these negotiations and move towards them, and in fact take steps that are confident at the table, I think the President is looking strictly at lifting this suspension,” Waltz said.
Democrats attacked the decision to suspend intelligence news support. Connecticut leader Jim Himez, a ranking Democrat for the House Intelligence Election Committee, said the Intelligence Election sharing between Washington and Kiev saved the lives of civilians and soldiers.
“The suspension to provide Materiel against Putin's attacks to Ukraine is merciless in itself, but the idea that we withhold life-saving intelligence from the Ukrainians who are fighting and dying now is unacceptable,” Himes said. “Intelligence sharing pauses should be terminated immediately.”
Trump administration officials said the suspension is a warning of consequences for Ukrainians if they fail to cooperate with Trump's peace plans. Details of these plans remain unknown. Trump has been speaking in recognition of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, whose aides support elements of the country's ideas to end the war.
But European countries are trying to develop their own plans that could beat both Trump and Zelensky.
In a statement Wednesday, the US European Command said it had received an order to suspend security assistance from the Ukrainian forces.
A spokesman for the command said military equipment, which had been promised as part of the president's drawdown authority package, would be suspended. Matteriel in transit has stopped and already moved to a safe facility, the statement said.
