The US has suspended sharing intelligence news with Kiev in a move that could severely limit the Ukrainian forces’ ability to attack Russian forces.
The cutoff comes after halting military aid to Ukraine amid a dramatic collapse in relations between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Voldy Zelensky.
Since the start of the war in 2022, the United States has provided important information to Ukraine.
It was not immediately clear how well the US blocked sharing.
In an interview with Fox Business broadcasting on Wednesday, CIA director John Ratcliffe confirmed he would support the US “suspension.”
“I think there will be a pause on the military front and intelligence front. [that prompted Ukraine’s president to respond] Ratcliffe said.
“I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine because we have to push back the attacks there, but we can put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward,” he said.
However, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fischer, who reported from the White House, says the move to withdraw its intelligence reporting cooperation is “just a tool to bring Ukraine back to the table.”
“They are [the US] He also spoke about stopping military aid to Ukraine. The Ukrainians acknowledge that they reach war effort rather than end it entirely,” Fischer explained.
“Obviously, only those threats worked. So when I told the national security adviser that things could resume in a short period of time, it appears to suggest that the impact on Ukraine is limited, to say the least.
Last week, Us-Ukraine’s relationship collapsed dramatically when Zelenskyy and Trump clashed at the White House on Friday, but there were signs of improvement this week.
Trump said Tuesday that Ukrainian leaders received a letter from President Voldymir Zelensky, who expressed his willingness to enter into talks about Russia’s war with Ukraine.
In the letter, Zelenskyy said, “We are ready to come to the negotiation table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer.”
“We really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence,” he writes.
The US has sent around $860 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
When asked how the Kremlin saw Zelensky’s letter, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “positively.”
“The question is who should sit with? For now, the Ukrainian president is still legally prohibited from negotiating with the Russian side. So overall, the approach is positive, but the nuances have not changed yet,” Peskov said of the 2022 Zelensky decree that ruled out negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Zelenskyy has repeatedly said he is willing to meet Putin, after Kyiv and its allies agree to a common negotiating position.
On Wednesday, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said Trump would consider restoring aid to Ukraine if he discusses to end the war.
In an interview with Fox, Waltz said the letter was “a good, positive first step.”
“If we can identify these negotiations and move towards these negotiations and actually put some confidence measures on the table, I think the President is looking strictly at lifting this pause,” he said without elaborating on the confidence building measures.
“We need to know that both sides are negotiating in part and in good faith in lasting peace,” he added.
Source link
