The United States held on the secret services at Ukraine, said CIA director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday and stormed pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to work with US President Donald Trump to convene peace talks with Russia.
The suspension that could cost life by violating Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian rocket attacks was followed by a military aid from US military aid to Kyiv this week. It underlines Trump’s willingness to play with an ally hardball, while he fluctuates from previously strong US support for Ukraine to a more conciliatory approach for Moscow.
The pressure seems to have worked, and Trump said on Tuesday that he received a letter from Zelenskyy, in which the Ukrainian leader said he was ready to get to the negotiating table.
“I think the pause that I think will disappear on the military front and the secret service front,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business Network.
“I think we will work with the Ukraine shoulder on shoulder because we have to push back the aggression that is there, but to bring the world to a better place so that these peace negotiations progress to progress.”
Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, told another FOX program that the President would consider to restore the help for Kyiv if peace talks arranged and not specified measures are taken to build trust.
A source familiar with the situation that spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the Trump government had stopped “everything”, including the targeting of data with which Ukraine had hit Russian goals.
A second source said that intelligence sharing was only “partially” shortened, but could not deliver any details.
Washington stopped military aid for Kyiv on Friday after a catastrophic Oval Office meeting, in which Trump, US Vice President JD Vance and Zelenskyy caused a heated confrontation before the media. The collision delayed the signing of a US Ukraine mineral contract.
But the deal came back on the right track and the signing should take place soon, said a high -ranking administrative officer on Wednesday after Zelenskyy accepted the advice from US officials at the weekend. The Ukrainian leader, who told the US officials that he was still ready to sign the deal, gave a conciliatory explanation that Washington thanked for his support and expressed regret for the collision on Friday.
Sources said on Tuesday that Trump wanted to sign the mineral contract on Tuesday evening before his speech at the Congress. That didn’t happen, but Trump referred to Zelenskyy’s message during his address.
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The signing is expected to be the first step in a longer negotiation process between Ukraine, the USA and Russia when the war ended, said the high -ranking administrative officer.
The Ukrainian embassy in Washington and the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine did not immediately answer a request for a comment.
Several Democrats criticized the suspension of the secret services. Senator Mark Warner, the deputy chairwoman of the Senate’s secret service shot, said that the “poorly advised decision” had shown that Trump gave Russia American power.
“Let me be clear: the performance of intelligence support for our Ukrainian partners will cost a life,” said Virginia’s Democrat in an explanation.
Europe expects defense spending
European countries are trying to increase defense spending and maintain support for Ukraine. France and Great Britain want to complete a peace plan for the United States within days, said diplomats.
In his speech to the Congress on Tuesday evening, Trump said that Kyiv was ready to sign a contract for the exploitation of the critical mineral interludes of Ukraine, which the US leader asked to repay the costs of the US military aid. He did not provide any further information.
Trump also said that he was in “serious discussions with Russia” and received strong signals that it was ready for peace.
“It is time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides,” he said.
The United States made Ukraine available for its fight against the armed forces of Moscow Critical Information, including information that contributed to thwarting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive at the beginning of his full invasion in February 2022.
But in less than two months in office, Trump built up the US policy, affected European allies and alienated and produced concerns about the future of NATO alliance.
He also ended Putin’s isolation through calls with the Russian leader and the conversations between Russian and US adjutants in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, from which Ukraine and its European allies were excluded.
All of this has caused some to ask himself why the US President apparently opened a door to Moscow while he distanced the United States from Ukraine, the limits of which were the subject of an improvocated invasion.
“I cannot understand why the United States put pressure on Ukraine and not on Russia in this war,” said Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian legislature who spoke to the effects of the background of the United States on the parts of secret services.
Some experts said that the lock in the secret services would affect Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian armed forces, which would take around 20 percent of the country’s territory.
“Unfortunately, our dependency is very serious in this regard,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research scholarship at the Ukrainian National Institute for Strategic Studies.
He said Kyiv had rely on the United States to occupy information about developments in Russia and Russian -occupied areas of Ukraine and in Russian attacks on Ukraine. These regularly met civil buildings such as schools and hospitals.
“We will have less time to react, more destruction, potentially more victims, everything will be very, very, very weak,” he said.
Before Trump returned to power in Washington, he claimed that he could end the war in 24 hours. However, the conflict lasts more than six weeks after its second term.
In the meantime, a Russian rocket on Wednesday hit a hotel in the central -Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, killed two people and injured 29, many of them seriously, said a city official.
Twenty of the injured were in a serious state, and the rescue operations followed after midnight, said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration, in Telegram -Messaging app.
According to Ukraine’s emergency services, 14 people were saved in the hotel from rubble, which suffered serious damage.
