March 7, 2025 (EIRNS)—During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingrahm yesterday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard clarified the nature of the pause in intelligence sharing with Ukraine ordered by President Donald Trump earlier this week. When asked if the suspension on intelligence sharing had been lifted following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent claim that he was ready for a ceasefire, Gabbard replied that it had not. She added, however, that the decision could be reversed “if things continue to go in the direction that they are.”
“There is a distinction … intelligence going towards any offensive strikes was paused, but any intelligence going towards defending Ukraine against attacks coming into their country would continue,” Gabbard stated.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, described the pause in intelligence sharing with Ukraine as “sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose. But it’s a pause. It’s not an end,” Kellogg said, at an online seminar hosted by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, reported CBS News. “But it’s sort of like, okay, we’re trying to get your attention.”
“That’s a pretty major concession to Russia, to constrain Ukraine’s ability to target and hit Russian forces,” CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan said, adding “this pressure really seems to be directly impacting, potentially, what they can do on the battlefield.” “Very candidly, they brought it on themselves,” Kellogg responded, apparently without further elaboration.
Though Kellogg indicated that intelligence sharing could resume, he declined to say when. “That’s up to the President of the United States,” he told Brennan. Kellogg also said the Trump administration would be willing to work with Zelenskyy, once the minerals agreement is finalized. “Sign a document, and then once you sign the document that you want to go forward, that you’re serious about it, then I think you can move forward,” said Kellogg. “When I was in Kyiv two weeks ago, I was very clear to President Zelenskyy—the outcome, if we didn’t have a signed agreement.”
