What happened
President Donald Trump has halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine’s military, days after he froze military assistance to Kyiv, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and national security adviser Mike Waltz said Wednesday. They described the decision as a temporary measure to force Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Who said what
Suspending intelligence sharing “could cost lives by hurting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian missile strikes,” Reuters said, and “underscores Trump’s willingness to play hardball with an ally as he pivots to a more conciliatory approach to Moscow.” The “suspension of intelligence sharing to Ukraine is a major concession” to Putin, The Wall Street Journal said, but Trump officials said it would push “Ukraine to negotiations more quickly than the pause in weapons shipments.”
Trump ordered a “pause” because he had a “real question” about whether Zelenskyy was “committed to the peace process,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business. But as Zelenskyy commits to peace talks, the pause “will go away” and “we’ll work shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine as we have.” Trump’s “ill-advised and weak decision” to cut off intelligence support to “our Ukrainian partners will cost lives” and cede more “American power to Russia,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said. “And, all the while, Putin has not let up on his illegal assault against Ukraine.”
What next?
Waltz told Fox News that Trump “will take a hard look at lifting this pause” if Ukraine agrees to scheduled talks with Moscow and takes unspecified “confidence-building measures.” The halt of security assistance will “reduce Ukraine’s leverage, weaken the Ukrainian military and therefore undermine Ukraine’s negotiating position with Russia,” David Shimer, former U.S. National Security Council director for Eastern Europe, said to The New York Times.