US curbs intelligence sharing with Ukraine – Europe live | Europe

The day so far – summary

Jakub Krupa

… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa as I hand the blog over to Tom Ambrose who will keep you up to date throughout the afternoon.

Here are the three things to take away from today’s Europe Live blog so far:

• The US has paused sharing some intelligence with Ukraine as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to force Ukraine back to the negotiating table with Russia, senior US officials confirmed (14:59 and 15:23). The exact scope of the restrictions imposed is not publicly known yet, leaving open questions about the extent to which the change affects critical operations (15:51).

• The French government’s spokesperson hinted at plans for Emmanuel Macron to travel to Washington with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and UK prime minister Keir Starmer in a further bid to convince US president Donald Trump of a need for security guarantees for Ukraine as part of the peace talks (12:15). Her comments, however, were denied by the Élysée Palace (13:14), fuelling speculations about Macron’s further plans, just hours before the president is due to address the nation at 7pm GMT (8pm CET).

• Greenland’s prime minister Múte B. Egede responded to US president Donald Trump’s comments about Greenland overnight and rejecting his interest in the island, saying that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders” (11:38). The exchange comes just days before a critical election in Greenland, which could decide the future trajectory of the independence movement, with some frustration in Denmark over the timing of Trump’s intervention (9:58).

And now it’s over to Tom, as we build up to Macron’s address to the nation later tonight.

The German police and the prosecutor’s office said there was currently “no evidence” indicating that the 40-year-old German man suspected of driving car into a crowd in Mannheim was motivated by extremism or politics.

In a joint statement, they said that the man had a long history of mental illnesses, and “regularly received medical and psychiatric treatment in the past,” including as an inpatient.

The authorities said they found inside a car “a document with various mathematical formulas,” previously reported in the media as calculations of potential impact, which continues to be evaluated.

They added that investigators were looking into historical contacts between the suspect and a right-wing extremist group in 2018, but their inquiries so far have not returned any indications of an existing link at present.

The authorities also said that number of people injured in the incident rose to 14, with four people still in hospitals. Two people were previously confirmed as dead.

The Czech government has adopted plans to gradually increase defence spending from 2026 with the ambition of reaching 3% by 2030, up from 2.1% in 2024, Czech news website idnes reported.

The move comes just days after Czech prime minister Petr Fiala warned that the geopolitical order in Europe was facing “most significant transformation since the fall of communism.”

Fiala warned that “president Trump has decided to completely reshape American foreign policy,” and “this new international reality – its dangers, its risks, and the shifts in American foreign policy – must be acknowledged.”

“This does not mean that the United States is no longer our ally. But we must recognise that it is now an ally that is making it clear that the time has come for European nations to take responsibility for their own affairs,” he said.

Today, Fiala went further pointing at the source of risks: “Anyone who says that Russia does not threaten us is not telling the truth.”

The policy shift in the Czech Republic follows similar moves in a number of European countries, announcing major increases in defence spending in response to the worsening security situation in Europe.

Romania ordered two senior Russian diplomats to be expelled from the country, the foreign ministry said, a day after accusing Moscow of “interference” and slamming Russian secret services’ criticism of the indictment of far-right presidential candidate
Călin Georgescu, AFP reported.

“The Romanian authorities have decided to declare persona non grata on the territory of Romania the military, air and naval attache of the Russian Federation in Bucharest, as well as his deputy,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported that Russian government intended to respond to this move.

US pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine – snap analysis

Dan Sabbagh

Defence and security editor

Experts said that the impact of US restrictions on intelligence sharing with Ukraine would depend partly on what precisely had been stopped – and emphasised that Kyiv was already more capable than Washington appreciated.

A western expert, familiar with Ukraine’s conduct of the war, said that Kyiv already made heavy use of open source and human intelligence to identify Russian targets in the rear and wasn’t particularly dependent on the US for targeting information.

Giving an example, the person said that “oil refineries don’t move,” citing a frequent target of Ukrainian long range-drone attacks. “Donald Trump might be surprised to find that when he pulls the levers they have little impact,” they added.

Initial reports suggest that the US is withholding intelligence on targets inside Russia’s internationally recognised borders, which would be a relatively limited restriction.

Wider restrictions on intelligence sharing, for example refusing to share intercepts that provide clues as to Russian strategic intentions or military plans would have a greater effect.

At the very beginning of the war in February 2022 it was US intelligence that told Ukraine that Russia was targeting the seizure of the Hostomel airport north west of Kyiv, allowing the location to be reinforced. Russia was never able to securely capture the air strip, which it had intended to use to fly in large numbers of troops to pacify the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues his diplomatic offensive talking to a number of European leaders about the next steps for Ukraine.

In the last few hours, he spoke with outgoing German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof.

In a social media post, the Ukrainian president said he had “an honest conversation” with Scholz, insisting that Ukraine needed “not a temporary ceasefire, but an end to the war once and for all.”

He thanked for Germany’s contribution so far, and stressed that he saw “opportunities to expand our cooperation in this area.”

For his part, Scholz said that Germany’s solidarity with Ukraine was “unbreakable,” but he welcomed Zelenskyy’s intention to negotiate through the US-led peace process.

Separately, Schoof said he spoke with the Ukrainian leader about the Dutch investment package for the Ukrainian defence industry worth €700mn, as the Netherlands “continues to support Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression.”

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters the US “had taken a step back” and 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, quoted by Reuters.

Speaking on Fox Business, CIA director John Ratcliffe indirectly confirmed the decision to restrict the provision of US intelligence to Ukraine, but suggested it was limited in scope and temporary to force sides back into negotiations:

Here is what he said:

What President Trump said is, he asked for a pause.

As I mentioned, President Trump is the peace president, [there has] never been a war under his leadership, [and] he wants to end the wars that exist.

And so in this case, as everyone saw play out, president Trump had a real question about whether president Zelenskyy was committed to the peace process, and he said: let’s pause, I want to give you a chance to think about that.

And you saw the response that President Zelensky put out a statement saying, I’m ready for peace, and I want Donald Trump’s leadership to bring about that peace.

And so 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, but [it was needed] to put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen backed the Greenlandic prime minister in saying that Greenland was not for sale and it was up for its people to determine its future.

She said that Denmark would want to “hold on to our commonwealth,” but added that it would need to evolve to be “made better, more modern, built on equality and respect.”

In comments to Danish broadcaster TV2, she added that “Greenland wants nothing more than to be Greenland.”

She also said she had not spoken with Trump since their last contact in early January, after which he convened emergency talks with political leaders amid concerns about Greenland.

Separately, Greenland’s finance minister Erik Jensen told broadcaster DR that the US president’s comments were “disrespectful.”

Overnight, Trump said the US “needed Greenland for national security and even international security,” adding: “I think we’re going to get it – one way or the other, we’re going to get it.”

Hungarian foreign and trade minister Péter Szijjártó said he was hopeful about challenging US sanctions imposed by the previous Joe Biden administration, claiming they were “created clearly with the intention of political revenge, in order to harm Hungary and later harm future Hungary-US relations”.

Speaking after his meeting with US state secretary Marco Rubio, Szijjártó highlighted the realignment in views between the two countries under Donald Trump, with the two sides agreeing on sanctions and on Ukraine.

“There are measures involving sanctions that affect Hungary’s energy security in the areas of natural gas acquisition and also nuclear energy, but there is also the sanction against Minister [of the prime minister’s Cabinet Office Antal] Rogán,” he said, quoted by a publication associated with the Hungarian government.

“We have launched the necessary legal procedures concerning all three issues and the secretary of state assured us of absolute openness regarding leaving behind us these revenge measures as soon as possible,” he was quoted as saying.

Szijjártó said he relayed Hungary’s support for Trump’s proposed peace talks on Ukraine.

We were also in agreement that repeated statements about having to continue the war as long as possible was not a strategy and was also a dangerous position because the longer the war continues in our neighbourhood, the greater the danger of escalation.

The minister also claimed, without offering further evidence, that “in Europe, especially in its western part, there was some scheming under way against Donald Trump and his peace plan.”

I earlier brought you the FT’s report claiming that the US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces.

But Bloomberg (£) and Ukraine’s national broadcaster Suspilne are reporting that the flow of intelligence information continues.

I will keep an eye on that to see if there are any official confirmations either way.

President Donald Trump will consider restoring aid to Ukraine if peace talks are arranged and confidence-building measures are taken, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“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,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News.

As Starmer speaks in the Commons, we are getting reports from Russia that a British man captured fighting on Ukraine’s side during its offensive in Russia’s Kursk region has been sentenced to 19 years behind bars.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on its website that James Scott Rhys Anderson was found guilty of a “terrorist act” and acting as a mercenary, after he was captured while fighting in the Kursk region in November.

The statement, released only in Russian, added that the Briton would spend “with the first five years to be served in prison and the rest in a maximum security penal colony.”

Speaking in the House of Commons in the last few minutes, UK prime minister Keir Starmer insisted on a need to secure “a lasting peace” in Ukraine, saying that:

The whole point of ensuring that there’s a lasting peace – and that any deal, if there’s a deal, is defended – is to avoid conflict, to ensure that we do have peace.

The way to ensure we have peace is to ensure there are guarantees for any deal that is in place, because the surest risk that there will be conflict is if Putin thinks that he can breach any deal that may be arrived at.

Starmer was also indirectly asked about reports on US limiting its intelligence sharing on Ukraine, and he didn’t answer it directly, but said instead that:

I have always been clear that we need to ensure that the US, the UK, Europe and Ukraine, are working together, but we must not choose between the US and Europe.

We never have historically, and we’re not going to do so now.

But Starmer also subtly hit back at US vice-president JD Vance for his comments on European troops from yesterday, opening the Q&A session in parliament by paying tribute to UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan, stressing “these men fought and died for their country, … fighting for Britain alongside our allies.”

In Iraq and Afghanistan 643 individuals died, and many more were injured, he says.

He later gets pointedly asked about Vance’s comments, and says:

We do remember the role that we’ve played historically with our allies, and we particularly remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice in that duty for their country and for our allies and that’s why it’s so important that we make that point today.

For more details on the PMQ session in the House of Commons, you can follow our UK live blog here:

No set plans for Macron’s trip to Washington, Elysée says, despite government spokesperson comments

Angelique Chrisafis

in Paris

An Elysée official later clarified there were no set plans for a trip to Washington by Emmanuel Macron at this point.

Although Sophie Primas, the government spokesperson, had suggested a trip might happen soon with the UK’s Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, it is Macron’s presidential office at the Élysée Palace that handles his international agenda and brief for foreign policy.

The US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Kyiv in a move that could seriously hamper the Ukrainian military’s ability to target Russian forces, the Financial Times reported (£) on Wednesday, citing officials familiar with the matter.

The paper noted that the decision came after the US suspended military aid deliveries to Ukraine earlier this week.

Speaking after the weekly French cabinet meeting, the French government’s spokesperson Sophie Primas told journalists said she would not pre-empt president Macron’s address to the nation tonight, but added that

It is being considered that president Macron could possibly go back to Washington with president Zelenskyy and with his English counterpart.

She was later asked a follow-up question on the expected timing of the visit and who came up with the idea, and she said she didn’t have the information, but expected this to happen “in the near future.”

She said she believed the meeting was a French initiative.

French president Emmanuel Macron is considering making another visit to the US to meet US president Donald Trump together with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British prime minister Keir Starmer, a French government spokesperson said in comments reported by Reuters.

France and the UK have been leading Europe’s response to the diplomatic crisis between the US and Ukraine after talks between Trump and Zelenskyy broke down last Friday in acrimony.