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11:25 06.03.2025 •
Trump puts a BAN on Starmer (right).
Photo: ‘The Daily Mail’
The United States has banned Britain from sharing intelligence from Washington with Ukraine as part of its withdrawal of support for Zelensky, writes ‘The Daily Mail’.
Donald Trump's decision to freeze American military aid to Kyiv brought warnings that Ukraine could run out of weapons in as little as two to three months' time.
But on top of missiles and ammunition, all UK intelligence agencies and military outlets also received an order expressly forbidding the sharing of US-generated intelligence, previously known as 'Rel UKR' – short for Releasable to Ukraine'.
Since the conflict began three years ago, the UK and other Western security partners such as Australia and New Zealand have shared such knowledge with Ukraine.
But the Mail has learnt the top-level security classification has now been removed by the United States pending further notification and is likely to impact upon Kyiv's ability to defend.
The ban affects the likes of the UK's GCHQ, the spy agencies and intelligence branches of the Ministry of Defence.
UK military intelligence expert Phil Ingram told the Mail: 'The United States's instruction to stop allies sharing US-derived intelligence with Ukraine is what I would expect.
'The US's intelligence partners, including Britain, have had their authority to pass on intelligence revoked.
'The US will tightly control distribution of its intelligence to Ukraine through agencies based in Kyiv.'
A senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times: 'We have two to three months. After that, the position will be very difficult for us.
'It will not be a total collapse, but we will be forced to withdraw from some areas more quickly'.
Pic.: social media
Playbook once ran a daily tracker of how long it would take Ursula von der Leyen to sit down for a hard-hitting POLITICO interview. Now it’s time to take bets on how long it will be before she meets Donald Trump. A safe bet might be never — the U.S. president has made no secret of his disdain for the EU and his preference for dealing with national leaders, POLITICO writes.
What is certain is that the wily Commission president is unlikely to make the same mistake as Kaja Kallas, who made the rookie error of pre-announcing a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio only to be snubbed on arrival to Washington last week.
While von der Leyen has been relatively muted over the past few weeks as figures like Macron and Starmer have been front-and-center in trying to influence Trump, her uncharacteristic silence is likely calculated.
Donald Trump is considering relinquishing its leadership of NATO after insisting that European allies take more responsibility for the security of the continent, ‘The Daily Mail’ can reveal.
The US has held its leadership position since the founding of the defence alliance in the aftermath of World War Two. Since then, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe has always been a senior US general.
But in line with the US's insistence that European allies take more responsibility for Europe's security, it also expects a British or French general to take up this position.
It comes after the US President stunned Western allies by imposing a 'temporary' pause in the supply of vital American military aid following a historic spat with Zelensky in the Oval Office last week:
Trump: “Who is this guy?”
Photo: ‘Irish Star’
President Trump warned night that he would 'not put up with' the Ukrainian leader for much longer as the relationship between the pair soured yet further after two weeks of back and forth comments.
Hours later, the White House said assistance was being 'reviewed' to 'ensure that it is contributing to a solution', triggering warnings that, without a U-turn, Ukraine's vital stockpile of US weapons would be spent by the summer.
Diplomatic sources said that Sir Keir and Emmanuel Macron were willing to travel to Washington with President Zelensky as early as next week to present a united front on the plan to Mr Trump.
Zelensky and friends…
Photo: Reuters
Mr Trump was angered by Zelensky's warning at the weekend that a deal to end the war is 'still very, very far away'.
US Vice-President JD Vance was urged to apologise for saying a proposed Anglo-French peacekeeping force amounted to '20,000 troops from some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years'.
Ministers were braced for further for further chaos overnight, amid speculation that Mr Trump could relinquish America's leadership of NATO and start withdrawing troops from Europe.
European Commission chief Ursula Von der Leyen proposed a £660 billion ‘ReArm Europe’ plan to strengthen the continent’s defences.
Mr Trump's decision to suspend military aid blindsided No 10. Hours earlier the PM dismissed rumours of the move, telling MPs: 'As I understand it, that is not their position.'
Downing Street was still scrambling to discover exactly how far the pause in military aid extends. Reports yesterday suggested that supplies of ammunition were no longer crossing the Polish border. And intelligence sharing was also pulled yesterday, the Mail learnt.
The decision to suspend aid is a major blow to Sir Keir's four-step plan for Ukraine, which begins with: 'Keeping military aid flowing into Ukraine while the war is ongoing.'
Government sources said efforts were being made 'at all levels' to persuade the US to restore supplies to Ukraine quickly.
…The US has cut off intelligence-sharing with Ukrainian military, which could seriously affect their ability to target Russian forces. The news comes from the CIA Director, who revealed that the US will discontinue its intelligence-sharing arrangement with the Ukrainian military.
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