French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday that France is providing intelligence with Ukraine, following the United States’ announcement that it was ceasing intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The decision comes as European Union leaders, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss increasing defense expenditure and strengthening vows of assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s incursion. French President Emmanuel Macron stated ahead of the discussions that EU members would “take decisive steps forward,” although also expressed concern about changes in US backing for Ukraine under new President Donald Trump.

“The future of Europe does not need to be decided in Washington or Moscow,” Macron stated. Trump earlier this week ordered the suspension of military aid to Kyiv’s forces following a tense meeting with Zelenskyy at the White House last week. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Wednesday that the US had temporarily stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv, though this could change after Zelenskyy said the exchanges with Trump in the Oval Office were “regrettable” and that Ukraine was ready for peace talks with Russia. “I think on the military and intelligence fronts, the pause [that prompted Ukraine’s president to respond] will go away,” Ratcliffe said on Fox Business Network.

“I think we’ll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as we have to push back on the aggression that’s there, but to put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward,” declared him. Since the war began in 2022, the United States has offered Ukraine with considerable intelligence, including key information needed by its military to attack Russian soldiers. Mike Waltz, Trump’s top security adviser, told reporters Wednesday that the United States “had taken a step back” and that the government was “reviewing all aspects” of its intelligence cooperation with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Waltz told CBS News that the United States is working rapidly to begin peace talks to end the war and sign a mining rights agreement with Kyiv. “I think we’re going to see movement in very short order,” Waltz told the crowd. He stated that Trump officials will meet with Ukrainian officials as they undertake shuttle diplomacy with Russia. “I have literally just been on the phone with my counterpart, the Ukrainian national security adviser, talking about time

s, locations, delegations,” Waltz told CNN. Reaching a peace agreement could be challenging. Ukraine had long demanded the restoration of its internationally recognized 2014 boundaries before Moscow unlawfully grabbed the Crimean Peninsula. Overall, Russia currently controls almost one-fifth of Ukrainian land, including much of the eastern Ukraine, and has vowed to not return any of it to the Kyiv government.

Some information for this report came