Warning as Trump severs intelligence link and Starmer prepares to return to White House
Larisa Brown, Steven Swinford, Hugh Tomlinson, and Charles Bremner
March 6, 2025
The Times
Ukraine’s key weapon systems were dramatically weakened on Wednesday after the US severed its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, leading to warnings that the move will result in more civilians dying.
Weapons systems stopped receiving data they rely upon to hit Russian targets, hampering Ukraine’s ability to effectively defend itself against incoming attacks. There were also fears that those personnel operating UK-supplied equipment, such as Storm Shadow cruise missiles, could struggle to identify military positions without intelligence from the US.
Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP, told Times Radio that the “brutal” decision to pull American intelligence sharing after denying the country military aid meant “so many people will be doomed”. While insisting that the move would not change Ukraine’s resolve to fight on, she said: “It is obviously brutal and I cannot imagine how many people will pay the ultimate price for the decision.”
John Brennan, the former CIA director, echoed Rudik’s concerns, telling Times Radio on Thursday that the move could be “calamitous on the battlefield” if it lasts. He said he had “never seen anything like this in my nearly 35 years of experience’, where US intelligence was stopped “for a political purpose and to try to coerce a partner like Ukraine to accede to the wishes of an administration”.
The Europeans do not have the capability to provide the type of intelligence the US has been providing and without it the Ukrainian services will be “enfeebled”, Brennan added.
Among other developments in a tense 24 hours:
- Mike Waltz, the US national security adviser, said that President Trump was prepared to consider lifting the suspension of military aid to Ukraine if negotiations progressed;
- Sir Keir Starmer signalled that he was ready to join President Macron of France and President Zelensky of Ukraine on a joint trip to the White House to help broker a ceasefire deal;
- Macron said that he would meet military chiefs from other European countries as he said the world was “entering a new era” after Trump’s election;
- John Healey, the defence secretary, is to urge his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, to resume support for Ukraine on a visit to Washington on Thursday while Zelensky will join EU leaders for a European Council meeting.
The move to suspend intelligence sharing came after Trump halted the supply of military aid to Ukraine on Monday. US weapons already in neighbouring countries were blocked from crossing the border.
Waltz suggested in an interview with the Fox & Friends programme that the suspension of support might not last long if relations improved with Kyiv. “I think if we can nail down 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 said.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Trump was “reconsidering” the suspension of military aid to Ukraine. “It’s a pause for review,” she told reporters, adding that the latest communications with Zelensky were a “positive step forward”.
British and European weapons gifted to Ukraine rely on US intelligence to hit Russian targets accurately behind enemy lines. The Ukrainians also rely on such intelligence to alert them when there are incoming drones and missile attacks, according to analysts.
Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said information about the movement of large groups of Russian forces would also be affected.
Healey is preparing to meet with Hegseth and Waltz on Thursday. “The unique relationship between the UK and US is as strong as ever,” he wrote on X. “At a crucial moment, we have a responsibility to deepen our defence relations and to work together to ensure any peace in Ukraine is lasting.”
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, is accompanying Healey on the visit to meet his military counterparts at the Pentagon. He is expected to discuss the provision of security guarantees for a European-led peacekeeping force, as well as present ideas for how the UK and its European allies will protect Ukraine from further Russian attacks. “It is a collective effort. Diplomats, politicians and military networks all being used,” a UK defence source said of the talks, highlighting the intense effort across the British government to restore ties between Ukraine and the US.
A joint visit to the White House, featuring Starmer, Macron and Zelensky, is being proposed in a bid to avoid a repeat of the scenes in the Oval Office last Friday, when Trump and JD Vance, the vice-president, turned on Zelensky.
The hope is that Starmer and Macron can “insulate” Zelensky while also presenting a “united front” to Trump. The government hopes that Trump’s suspension of military aid and intelligence to the US will prove to be a negotiating tactic and will be lifted quickly.
In an address on Wednesday night, Macron said the future of Europe and its security “cannot be decided in Moscow or in Washington” as he suggested he could extend France’s nuclear deterrent to cover neighbouring countries. He argued that to remain a spectator in this “global conflict” was “madness”, adding: “I want to believe that the United States will stand by us. But we need to be ready if that is not the case.”
On Tuesday evening, in what was described as “one of the most historic paradigm shifts in Germany’s post-war history”, Friedrich Merz, the country’s incoming chancellor, announced a €500 billion (£414 billion) special fund for German infrastructure and an end to strict borrowing limits on defence spending.
Merz said, “I want to make it very clear: in view of the threats to our freedom and peace on our continent, the following must now also apply to our defence. ‘Whatever it takes’.”