The Trump administration said it wants to pressure Kyiv to get to the bargaining table.

By Jack Detsch, Matt Honeycombe-Foster, Joe Gould and Paul McLeary

The United States has temporarily cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday, the latest blow to the relationship between the Trump administration and Kyiv.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed the decision in an interview with Fox Business Network on Wednesday morning. Four people familiar with the move said that the freeze began some time after the Trump administration paused weapons shipments on Monday night. The people were granted anonymity to talk about ongoing intelligence sharing between the two sides.

Both moves follow a heated Oval Office exchange on Friday, as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for failing to show enough gratitude for American support and saying that Kyiv was overplaying a weak diplomatic hand.

Ratcliffe indicated the pause could be temporary, but was an effort to put pressure on Ukraine to get to the negotiating table.

“I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away, and I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, as we have, to push back on the aggression that’s there,” Ratcliffe said. “President Trump is going to hold everyone accountable to drive peace around the world.”

National security adviser Mike Waltz later confirmed the news, saying that the Trump administration would be “reviewing all aspects” of U.S. relations with Ukraine while it indefinitely paused intelligence sharing and military aid.

A congressional aide familiar with the move said the intelligence pause covered “everything” and took effect on Tuesday morning after the White House announced that U.S. military aid to Kyiv had been paused.

The news raised widespread alarm bells on Capitol Hill, even among some of Ukraine’s allies that are closely aligned with Trump.

“I’m very worried about that long term,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of both Trump and Ukraine who called on Zelenskyy to resign after he was kicked out of the White House on Friday. “Because that gives Ukraine an edge. But hopefully all this will clear up.”

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called for an immediate resumption of intelligence sharing with Ukraine. “I have observed how critical our intelligence relationship with our Ukrainian partners has been in holding the line against Russia’s relentless and brutal offensive. It has saved the lives of Ukrainian servicemembers and civilians alike.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence unit did not respond to a request for comment. Zelenskyy’s office declined to comment. The CIA referred a request for comment to the National Security Council, which did not comment further beyond Waltz’s statement.

The intelligence-sharing pause weakens Ukraine’s ability to target Russian positions, said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “If President Trump gives away all of our leverage, then he’s basically handing Vladimir Putin whatever he wants,” she said.The freeze also appeared to stop American allies from sharing U.S. intelligence products with Ukraine. Britain’s Daily Mail reported Wednesday that U.K. intelligence agencies and military outlets had now received an order explicitly banning them from sharing U.S.-generated intelligence previously badged as releasable to Ukraine. The move was branded “concerning” by British opposition leader Kemi Badenoch, who warned against any U.S. shift to “disengage” on intelligence. When pressed by reporters Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office cited a longstanding convention of not commenting on intelligence matters.

A person inside the Ukrainian military familiar with the matter said that the Ukrainian armed forces were still receiving some intelligence from Kyiv’s partners as of Wednesday, but declined to say which countries. The person, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive military information, said 80 percent of Ukraine’s intelligence comes from allied countries, largely the United States.

“It’s inevitably going to be a huge setback for the Ukrainians, I don’t think there’s any way to deny that,” said Neil Barnett, the CEO of Istok Associates Limited, a London-based intelligence consultancy. “The British will try to fill the gap. We have our listening posts at RAF Akrotiri, which is sovereign, we have Rivet Joint flights in the area. But, we obviously don’t have all of the capabilities that the Americans have and there will be some things that just aren’t replaceable.”

Ukraine has become less dependent on American weapons systems than it was earlier in the conflict – officials in Kyiv say that as much as 40 percent of the weapons it uses on the frontlines are made in Ukraine — but still relies heavily on the U.S. for intelligence capabilities, long-range weapons and air defense. The pause in both weapons and intelligence-sharing could affect Ukraine’s effort to make gains on the battlefield after Kyiv had begun counterattacks in the Donbas and staged recent attacks against Russian oil and gas refineries. It could also limit early warnings to Ukraine about incoming air attacks from Russia.

“Every day, Ukrainian families rely on timely, accurate intelligence to protect their lives and their children from relentless Russian missile and drone attacks. This critical information is not merely strategic support — it is the difference between life and death, providing civilians precious minutes to seek safety underground,” Paul Grod, president of the Ukrainian World Congress advocacy group said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We see that intel sharing, long range precision fires, air defense munitions are key critical areas where U.S. support is essential. Those cannot be replaced by anyone else at this point,” said Giedrimas Jeglinskas, chair of the National Security and Defense Committee in Lithuania’s parliament and a former NATO official.

European officials remained split on whether the weapons and intelligence pauses were a way for Trump to vent his frustration with Zelenskyy pending a minerals deal, or a longer term rupture. “In the longer term if intel sharing is not resumed this will have a negative effect on Ukrainian forces ability to fight,” Jeglinskas added.

Some European leaders see the momentum slowly shifting in Ukraine’s favor in the war in some respects, but stress that continuing support from Europe and the U.S. remains critical.

Russia has shifted its economy to a war footing, but has been “quite damaged, we know their economy is not doing well but their industrial capacity is quite good,” said Permanent Secretary of Finland’s Ministry of Defence Esa Pulkkinen.

“Ukraine’s industrial capacity has greatly improved for building things like drones but it’s still not enough,” and needs an influx of Western investment and support, Pulkkinen said.

Source: Politico.com