CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that the U.S. had paused sharing intelligence with Ukraine as well as pausing arms shipments to Kyiv.
Ratcliffe indicated that the moves may be temporary.
“Trump had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let’s pause,” Ratcliffe said on Wednesday.
“I want to give a chance to think about that, and you saw the response that President Zelensky put out,” Ratcliffe added, “So I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away.”
President Zelenskyy has been falling all over himself, backtracking furiously after the Oval Office debacle. He now claims he "regrets" what happened. “My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” Zelenskyy said.
A second source close to the Ukrainian government said the intelligence-sharing pause was the key issue that convinced Zelensky to put out a statement on Tuesday expressing regret for his public spat with President Trump and committing to peace talks.
The source said that while Ukraine could have managed for quite some time without U.S. weapons, the suspension of intelligence sharing has immediate negative effect on the Ukrainian army's operations.
Zelesnkyy thought he could play hardball with the United States. He was using a whiffle ball while Trump was slinging genuine Rawlings Official Major League cork and rubber, rawhide and twine, baseballs. He didn't have a chance.
The White House is saying that the sharing of intel and weapons shipments could resume once a date was set for peace talks. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on Wednesday he had spoken with his Ukrainian counterpart and sees the process moving in the right direction.
"If we can nail down these negotiations and move towards these negotiations and put confidence-building measures on the table, the President will take a hard look at lifting this pause... Yesterday and today [were] a positive step forward," Waltz said.
Ukraine had been relying on US intelligence in its war with Russia since 2022. The technology allowed the Ukrainian military to track Russian military moves, and the pause could seriously hamper Kyiv’s military maneuvers.
It is unclear when the US will turn back on the intelligence sharing.
Trump, in his Tuesday speech before Congress, said he “appreciated” the letter he received from Zelensky — but set no date for a face-to-face meeting to get relations back on track.
Ukrainian officials have said they can hold off Russian forces without US support — but only until the summer.
The Washington Post notes that the pause in intelligence sharing "includes a halt in targeting data that U.S. spy agencies supply to Kyiv so it can launch American-provided weapons and Ukrainian-made long-range drones at Russian targets." In essence, the pause in intelligence sharing ends Ukraine's offensive operations against Russia. Kyiv's ground forces are bogged down in a bloody war of attrition and couldn't launch an offensive even if they had a mind to. The only attacks Ukraine was able to carry out on Russia were from their fleet of drones and the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles that the U.S. supplied.
Zelenskyy made the most egregious miscalculation in recent world affairs. He now must bend the knee to Trump to salvage the U.S.-Ukraine relationship.
Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
Help us continue to report on DOGE's accomplishments and expose Big Government corruption. Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member