US cuts off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Ukrainian servicemen fire with a Bureviy multiple launch rocket system at a position in Donetsk region, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine, November 29, 2022. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS

(Reuters) -The U.S. has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv, said CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday, in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military's ability to target Russian forces. 

The decision to cut off intelligence-sharing and military aid to Ukraine starkly illustrates the Trump administration's willingness to play hardball with an ally to force it to the negotiating table.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he received a letter from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which the Ukrainian leader expressed willingness to come to the negotiating table over the Russia-Ukraine war.

"I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause (that prompted Ukraine's president to respond) 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.

Three sources familiar with the situation also confirmed that U.S. intelligence-sharing had stopped. It was not immediately clear to what extent the U.S. had cut back on the sharing. 

One of the sources said that intelligence-sharing had only "partially" been cut, but was unable to provide more detail. 

Since the start of the war in 2022, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with significant intelligence, including critical information its military needs for targeting purposes.

U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters Wednesday morning that the U.S. "had taken a step back" and that the administration was "reviewing all aspects" of its intelligence relationship with Ukraine.

Waltz also said that the U.S. was actively engaged in talks with Ukraine about moving negotiations forward on a minerals deal and a potential peace deal with Russia.

"I think we're going to see movement in very short order," he said.

 (Reporting by Disha Mishra in Bengaluru and Washington bureau; editing by Andrew Heavens, Mark Heinrich and Chizu Nomiyama)