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“… The latest strikes occurred after an announcement from the United States that the country was suspending both military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine in an effort to force Ukraine to the negotiating table with Russia. Officials in Kyiv have warned that without American assistance Ukraine’s air-defense capabilities would be among the first elements of its security to be compromised.
The Trump administration’s special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, said on Thursday that cutting off intelligence sharing with Kyiv was meant to get the attention of Mr. Zelensky, akin to “hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose.”
Mr. Kellogg was speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, and his remarks earned a frosty reception from the national security experts in the audience.
When Mr. Kellogg, discussing the pause in intelligence sharing, said the Ukrainians “brought it on themselves,” the audience hissed in response.
Earlier Thursday, rescue workers raced to pull wounded civilians from the ruined building in Mr. Zelensky’s hometown, Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, and air-defense crews across the country scrambled to defend against bombardments that have become routine during the winter.
… The American-made Patriot system has proved to be Ukraine’s most reliable defense against Russia’s most sophisticated ballistic missiles. The pause in American military assistance could leave Ukrainians short of the interceptor missiles that have helped provide a blanket of protection over the capital, Kyiv, and other cities.
At the same time, Ukraine’s air-raid alerts are informed, to some degree, by the early warning data provided by American satellites, which can detect aircraft and missile launches deep in Russian territory. It is not clear if the pause on intelligence sharing included information related to those systems. …”