Trump on Tuesday says he received a letter from Zelensky says he was willing to come to the negotiating table. Photo: SAUL LOEB
By Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco, Reuters
The US has paused intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, CIA director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday, piling pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to cooperate with US President Donald Trump in convening peace talks with Russia.
The suspension, which could cost lives by hurting Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russian missile strikes, followed a halt this week to US military aid to Kyiv.
It underscores Trump's willingness to play hardball with an ally as he pivots to a more conciliatory approach to Moscow from previously strong US support for Ukraine.
The pressure appears to have worked, with Trump on Tuesday saying he received a letter from Zelensky in which the Ukrainian leader said he was willing to come to the negotiating table.
"I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause I think will go away," Ratcliffe told Fox Business Network.
"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," he said.
Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz told another Fox programme that the president would consider restoring assistance to Kyiv if peace talks are arranged and unspecified confidence-building measures taken.
A source familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Trump administration had halted "everything," including targeting data that Ukraine has used to strike Russian targets.
A second source said intelligence-sharing had only "partially" been cut but was unable to provide more detail.
Aid halted after White House meeting
Washington on Monday halted military aid to Kyiv following a disastrous Oval Office meeting on Friday when Trump and Zelensky engaged in a shouting match before the world's media.
The clash delayed the signing of a Ukraine-US minerals deal.
But the deal got back on track and signing was expected to happen soon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday, after Zelensky took the advice of US officials over the weekend.
The Ukrainian leader, who told the US officials he was still ready to sign the deal, issued a conciliatory statement that thanked Washington for its support and expressed regret for Friday's clash.
Sources said on Tuesday that Trump wanted to sign the minerals deal before his speech. That did not happen but Trump referred to Zelensky's message during his address.
The signing is expected to be the first step in a longer negotiation process between Ukraine, Washington and Russia on ending the war, the senior administration official said.
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington and Ukraine's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Criticism from lawmakers
Several Democrats criticised the intelligence-sharing suspension.
Senator Mark Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said the "ill-advised decision" showed that Trump had given American power to Russia.
"Let me be clear: Cutting off intelligence support to our Ukrainian partners will cost (Ukrainian) lives," the Virginia Democrat said in a statement.
European countries are scrambling to boost defense spending and maintain support for Ukraine. France and Britain are aiming to finalise, possibly within days, a peace plan to present to the US, diplomats said.
In his address to Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump said Kyiv was ready to sign a deal on exploiting Ukraine's critical mineral deposits, which the US leader has demanded to repay the costs of US military aid.
He provided no further information.
Trump also said he had been in "serious discussions with Russia" and had received strong signals that it was ready for peace.
"It's time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides," he said.
The US has provided critical intelligence to Ukraine for its fight against Moscow's forces, including information that helped thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin's drive to seize Kyiv at the start of his full-scale invasion in February 2022.
But in less than two months in office, Trump has upended US policy, stunning and alienating European allies and raising concerns about the future of the NATO alliance.
He has also ended Putin's isolation through phone calls with the Russian leader and talks between Russian and US aides in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from which Ukraine and its European allies were excluded.
Some experts said the US intelligence-sharing suspension would hurt Ukraine's ability to strike Russian forces, which occupy about 20 percent of the country's territory.
"Unfortunately, our dependence in this regard is quite serious," said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies.
He said Kyiv relied on the US for intelligence about developments inside Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as well as Russian attacks on Ukraine. Those have regularly hit civilian buildings like schools and hospitals, killing hundreds of thousands of non-combatants.
"We will have less time to react, more destruction, potentially more casualties, it will all weaken us very, very much," he said.
- Reuters
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