‘Trump is setting Zelensky up for an almighty failure’: US suspends intelligence sharing with Ukraine
President Trump has halted US military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine following last week’s tense White House meeting, potentially reshaping the country's war effort against Russia.
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In brief:
- The White House has announced it will stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine, one day after pausing military aid to the country.
- President Zelensky posted a diplomatic message attempting to rebuild relations, but intelligence sharing was still suspended.
- The News Agents say Trump's actions will weaken Ukraine's position and potentially benefit Russia's strategic interests.
What’s the story?
Developments in the Ukraine-Russia war are unfolding with remarkable speed since Donald Trump entered the White House 44 days ago.
After pausing all military aid to Ukraine on Tuesday (4 March), the White House has now confirmed it will also stop sharing intelligence with the country - a development Lewis Goodall describes as “terrible news” for the country’s war effort against the Russian invasion. Speaking to reporters, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said the US is "pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship".
Speculating that this could happen, defence journalist, author and editor Shashank Joshi told The News Agents on Tuesday that if the US paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, it would “see the results immediately on the battlefield”.
"Ukraine would have a disruption to its communications. It would have less situational awareness of Russian military threats.
"It would have less ability to target those threats with its own missiles,” Joshi said.
The pause in military aid and the sharing of intelligence to Ukraine follows a tense exchange between President Zelensky and President Trump at the White House, where Vice President J.D Vance accused the Ukrainian leader of not saying ‘thank you’ for the US help in its war efforts.
Hours after aid was paused, Zelensky took to X to say the exchange in the White House was “regrettable” and make clear he is thankful for America’s past support.
“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence…
“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”
Whether it’s warranted or not, that might be as close to an apology that Trump will receive from Zelensky, who will want Trump to reconsider his position.
Walz has since said that if “confidence-building measures” can happen, Donald Trump might consider lifting the pause on military aid. "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," he told Fox News.
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Zelensky’s ‘apology’ (which didn't actually include an apology) post on X, appeared to be a move in the right direction to getting things back on track for Ukraine.
“If you go through it, Zelensky doesn't actually apologise. He probably feels he can't apologise, because there are plenty of people in Ukraine who do not think that he put a foot wrong,” Emily Maitlis points out.
But, Emily adds, it will “massage Trump’s ego” and may be the first step to get Zelensky back in the room.
“He's clearly facing down what happened on Friday night and saying, ‘give me another chance. Let's start again’.”
Unsurprisingly, Trump had other ideas. It was merely hours after Zelensky held out the olive branch, that the White House confirmed it will stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
It left Lewis wondering what Trump’s motivations are, and what could be a possible “best case scenario” if he tries to look at Trump’s strategy in a positive light.
He believes that Trump’s strategy may be that the US needs to use its leverage over Ukraine to bring the war to an end sooner, rather than later.
“Trump's analysis is ‘this war is just going to go on forever if something doesn't bring it to a head’,” he says.
The problem with that strategy, he says, is; “sure, it's going to bring Zelensky to the table, but it's going to do so in the worst possible position that they can be in, because Trump has already basically given Putin much of what he wants and made clear that Ukraine is in a completely supplicant position.”
But Jon Sopel believes that in trying to find the “positive light” in Trump’s strategy, you will “over intellectualise Donald Trump” who works from “base instincts”.
“He just thinks that might is right, and Russia has got more might,” Jon says.
“He doesn't give a shit about what this means for the global order for the respective sovereign nations.“
The worry I have is that Trump is setting Zelensky up for an almighty failure,” Lewis says.
“Because, maybe these negotiations happen, but because Ukraine is being forced to the table, because Trump has basically already given Putin much of what he wants, the parameters of the deal that Putin would accept would be so in his favour that Zelensky couldn't possibly accept them.
“And at that moment, if Zelensky walks away. What does Trump say?
“‘He says he's not interested in peace. I'm washing my hands of this’.”