But Trump administration officials on Wednesday (early Thursday AEDT) said positive talks between Washington and Kyiv meant it might only be a short suspension.
“We have taken a step back and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship,” national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).
Comments from top Trump administration officials suggest the decision is part of the broader negotiations between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate a peace deal with Russia, and that intelligence could begin flowing to Ukraine again soon.
“On the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen will go away, and I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have,” Ratcliffe said.
US intelligence assistance is vital for Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets. Ukrainians use the information when operating US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and the US Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS.
Intelligence from the US and other allies also helps Ukraine prepare for Russian attacks, and supplied critical information in the war’s early days that allowed Ukraine to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes for a quick victory.
The CIA declined to respond to questions about the change in intelligence sharing.
Ukraine could soon be receiving intelligence from the US once Zelenskyy shows to Trump he is serious about participating in talks on Trump’s terms, Waltz said on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends.
“I think if we can nail down these negotiations and move towards these negotiations and, in fact, put some confidence building measures on the table, then the president will take a hard look at lifting this pause,” he said.
“We have to know that both sides are sincerely negotiating towards a partial, then permanent, peace.”
The moves by the new administration have dismayed leaders in Europe and Democrats in Washington, who say Trump is depriving a key American ally of assistance they need to fight Russia.
The flow of information to Ukraine has saved lives, US Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).
“The idea that we will now withhold life-saving intelligence from Ukrainians who are fighting and dying is unforgivable,” Himes said.
Officials in Ukraine declined to comment on the country’s intelligence-sharing relationship with Washington.
It’s unclear whether the American suspension affects the intelligence sharing ties between Ukraine and other Western powers, including four of the Five Eyes, an intelligence sharing coalition of the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, would not confirm whether the UK is still supplying Ukraine with intelligence from the United States.
He said Britain was “will do everything to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position across all aspects of our support, particularly around defense and security, and our position hasn’t changed”.