CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that the US has paused weapons and intelligence support to Ukraine, days after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of ungratefulness an prolonging the war in a combative Oval Office meeting.
“Trump had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let’s pause,” Ratcliffe said in a Fox Business interview, adding that he thought the pause would eventually "go away" after a "chance to think."
“And I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have to push back on the aggression that’s there, put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward,” the CIA director continued.
The pause comes as Ukraine, facing manpower and supply shortages, struggles to fight off grinding and relentless enemy attacks two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country.
Despite key figures in the Trump transition team, including Ratcliffe, receiving briefs about the value of intelligence sharing with Ukraine, a senior U.S. military official told CNN that the U.S. had already instituted a rollback, including a reduction in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights that could impair Ukraine's ability to conduct both offensive and defensive operations. Those include air defense measures, since Ukraine depends on US intelligence to anticipate Russian movements.
National Security Advisor John Waltz also confirmed those reports Wednesday morning, saying that aid may be resotred if Ukraine makes progress on peace talks. The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that giving Ukraine too much support would hamper a potential deal with Russia, while Zelenskyy and some of Ukraine's European allies have argued that Ukraine's survival as a coherent nation-state cannot be subject to bargaining.
Nevertheless, Zelenskyy has also said that he is open to a ceasefire and peace talks, as long as all the parties involved are acting in good faith. He also this week issued a statement praising Trump, which Ratcliffe suggested would help induce the president to resume intelligence sharing.
