CIA Director: Trump Had Us Pause Intelligence to Ukraine

The flow of weapons and intelligence from the US to Ukraine has been temporarily put on ice, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a Wednesday interview. Speaking with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, Ratcliffe said, "Trump had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let's pause. ... And you saw the response that President Zelensky put out," he added, in reference to an X post made by Zelensky on Tuesday. That post read in part, "My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts."

Ratcliffe expressed that the pause may be short-lived, saying, "I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away." The New York Times notes it's unclear how much information-sharing truly has been curtailed. One official said intelligence that was directly tied to safeguarding Ukrainian troops was still flowing, while another official said almost all intelligence fell under that umbrella. CNN's military source said the US had trimmed down the number of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights it was conducting. (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)