CIA director John Ratcliffe has confirmed the Trump administration has paused its intelligence sharing operation with Ukraine, following a heated change between the 2 nations’ leaders on Friday.
In response to a query throughout an interview with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday, Ratcliffe didn’t present additional particulars in regards to the choice, however stated President Trump had requested for a “pause” in sending weapons shipments and intelligence to Ukraine.
Ratcliffe stated the pause got here after President Trump questioned whether or not Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “dedicated to the peace course of” following a gathering within the Oval Workplace between the 2 leaders. The assembly ended abruptly earlier than the leaders might go forward with the deliberate signing of a minerals deal in change for U.S. commitments to Ukraine’s monetary security.
The CIA director added that he thinks that the pause “will go away,” however didn’t specify when.
It’s not instantly clear how the pause of U.S. intelligence sharing will have an effect on Ukraine’s potential to defend in opposition to assaults from Russia.
A spokesperson for the CIA didn’t reply to information.killnetswitch’s request for remark. Representatives for the Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv and New York didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail requesting remark.
Ukraine has relied closely on U.S. intelligence since across the begin of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, together with to counter and stop Russian-launched cyberattacks. Throughout the warfare, Russia additionally focused Ukraine with harmful cyberattacks that induced energy outages in the course of winter and knocked out satellite tv for pc communications utilized by Ukraine’s army.
For the reason that warfare escalated in 2022, the U.S. has deepened its diplomatic ties and collaboration with Ukraine.
In 2023, the FBI touted its intelligence sharing partnership with Ukraine, saying federal authorities offered “actionable intelligence” to its Ukrainian companions, resembling notifications that helped mitigate distributed denial-of-service assaults and counter the unfold of disinformation.
The U.S. additionally indicted a number of Russian government-backed hackers accused of launching a wave of harmful assaults on the Ukrainian authorities and past.
