France provides military intelligence to Ukraine as US freezes vital information
France is providing military intelligence to Ukraine after Washington announced it was freezing the sharing of information with Kyiv, French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday.
The US said on Wednesday it had paused its intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, cutting off the flow of vital information that has helped the war-torn nation target Russian invaders, but Trump administration officials have said positive talks between Washington and Kyiv mean it may only be a short suspension.
American intelligence is vital for Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets.
Speaking to France Inter radio on Thursday, Mr Lecornu said France is continuing its intelligence sharing.
“Our intelligence is sovereign,” Mr Lecornu said. “We have intelligence that we allow Ukraine to benefit from.”
Mr Lecornu added that following the US decision to suspend all military aid to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron asked him to “accelerate the various French aid packages” to make up for the lack of American assistance.
Mr Lecornu said that in the wake of the US decision, shipments of Ukraine-bound aid departing from Poland had been suspended, adding, however, that “Ukrainians, unfortunately, have learned to fight this war for three years now and know how to stockpile”.
In Ukraine, a Russian ballistic missile killed four people staying at a hotel in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town during the night.
Mr Zelensky said a humanitarian organisation’s volunteers had moved into the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, just before the strike, including Ukrainian, American and British nationals. He did not say whether those people were among the 31 injured.
Russia fired 112 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as two ballistic Iskander missiles, at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.
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