CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed on March 5 that the Trump administration ordered a halt to intelligence cooperation with Ukraine, after the administration halted all military aid to the country.
“President [Donald] Trump had a real question about whether President Zelenskyy was committed to the peace process,” he said on March 5 during an interview with Fox News, referring to a statement that Trump made last week after a public disagreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House.
Ratcliffe said the pause “on the military front and the intelligence front” was temporary, stressing that he thinks the United States will likely again “work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.”
“President Trump is going to hold everyone accountable to drive peace around the world,” he said.
During his campaign and in the early stages of his second presidential term, Trump has said that he wants the now-three-year-long Russia–Ukraine war to end and has described the conflict as senseless because of the heavy losses both sides have incurred.
The U.S. government has provided critical intelligence to Ukraine for its fight against Russian forces, including information that helped thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to seize Kyiv at the start of his invasion of the Eastern European country in February 2022.
Trump said in a social media statement last week that after the White House spat, which also involved Vice President JD Vance, he doesn’t believe Zelenskyy wants peace.
After the U.S. pause in aid, Zelenskyy issued a statement on March 4 saying that he is ready to negotiate for a peace deal and is willing to sign a mineral rights deal with the United States. Waltz made reference to the deal in his March 5 interview, saying he is optimistic that the Ukrainian side is moving toward negotiations.
“We are having good talks on location for the next round of negotiations, on delegations, on substance,“ Waltz said. ”So just in the last 24 hours since the public statement from Zelensky, and then the subsequent conversations, which I’m going to walk inside and continue, I think we’re going to see movement in very short order.”
Ukrainian officials and Zelenskyy have not publicly responded to statements by Waltz and Ratcliffe that the U.S. intelligence-sharing agreement has ended.
Several Democrats lambasted the suspension of intelligence-sharing. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the move was an “ill-advised decision” and alleged that Trump had given American power to Russia.
“Let me be clear: cutting off intelligence support to our Ukrainian partners will cost (Ukrainian) lives,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement.
In his address to Congress on March 4, Trump said Kyiv was ready to sign a deal on exploiting Ukraine’s critical mineral deposits, which the president has said is needed to repay the costs of U.S. military aid.
Trump also told lawmakers he had been in “serious discussions with Russia” and had received strong signals that they were ready for peace.
“It’s time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides,” he said.
