Ukraine Has Restored Full US Intelligence Support Since 2025 Freeze, Boosting Strikes Inside Russia

The US-Ukraine intelligence-sharing relationship has significantly improved since Washington briefly suspended intelligence cooperation in March 2025, helping Kyiv conduct more effective long-range strikes against targets inside Russia, Politico reported. The freeze followed a tense Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 28, 2025, after which the White House temporarily halted both military assistance and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Since then, the intelligence partnership has rebounded, according to US lawmakers and experts cited by Politico, returning to levels seen before the suspension. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the renewed cooperation has helped strengthen Ukraine’s position in Russia’s war. “I don’t want to get into any specifics, but it has improved,” Warner told Politico’s NatSec Daily. “That, combined with I think, the really smart, long-range drone strategy has really improved the Ukrainians’ position.” Republican senators also said intelligence cooperation between Washington and Kyiv has increased. “Everybody loves a winner and looks like Ukraine has turned the tide,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Politico. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he noticed stronger communication between the two countries during visits to Ukraine. Other Topics of Interest Germany Warns of ‘New Level of Danger’ After Explosives-Laden Drone Found Near Ukrainian Plane An explosives-laden drone found near a Ukrainian Antonov plane forced flight diversions at Leipzig-Halle as Germany warned of a “new level of danger.” “I was in Ukraine in April 2025 and I was there again in July 2026. And I detect more confidence in the communication,” Kaine said. George Barros, director of innovation and open-source tradecraft at the Institute for the Study of War, said the Trump administration approved intelligence sharing that supported Ukrainian strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. “Those strikes were supercharged, and they became much more effective only starting in 2025 with the new Trump administration, when intelligence-sharing started to help provide the Ukrainians better information to make their strikes much more effective,” Barros said. He added that the strikes have become part of a broader strategy aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow. “And that I think has been a win because it’s part of a larger, more coherent strategy for how to actually create real costs,” Barros said. The White House said Trump remains focused on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. “The President wants this war settled so the senseless killing ends,” the White House said in a statement. “The President and his team remain committed to continuing to play a constructive role in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done.” Stephen Sestanovich, a fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Ukrainian intelligence provides insights that support a reciprocal partnership. “When you talk to Ukrainian intelligence officials, you hear confident insights into what is going on in Moscow, and not just in the Kremlin,” Sestanovich said. “Insights of a sort that justify a truly cooperative and reciprocal sharing arrangement.” Politico also noted that Ukraine’s battlefield performance has strengthened its position in Washington, with Kyiv increasingly relying on low-cost drones and strikes inside Russian territory. “No one – including our defense establishment and, frankly, maybe even including me – a year ago thought they’d be in this position right now,” Warner said. Intelligence freeze took heavy toll on Ukraine’s battlefield operations The fallout of the 2025 US intelligence sharing halt was immediate. Time magazine, citing Ukrainian and Western officials, reported then that the intelligence blackout helped Russian forces regain ground in the Kursk region, weakened Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities, and left thousands of troops at risk of encirclement. “As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,” one Ukrainian military officer told the magazine. “The biggest problem is morale... It’s really causing an advantage for the enemy on the front line.” The suspension also disrupted Ukraine’s ability to carry out precision HIMARS strikes. Without US satellite intelligence, Ukrainian forces struggled to identify high-value Russian targets and provide early warning of incoming missile and air attacks. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.