Former CIA Director accuses Trump of blackmailing Ukraine

Former CIA Director John Brennan, who has worked under several US administrations, has said that US President Donald Trump's suspension of intelligence sharing with Ukraine is pressure and blackmail against Kyiv.

"I’ve never seen anything like this in my nearly 35 years of experience... whereby US intelligence was stopped for a political purpose and to try to coerce a partner like Ukraine to accede to the wishes of an administration.

I think it could be calamitous on the battlefield if this remains in place over time," Brennan said, as quoted by The Huffington Post.

Brennan added that he believes Trump's actions are more of a "pressure tactic and extortion".

"The Europeans do not have the capability to provide the type of intelligence that the US intelligence community has been providing – all different types of intelligence that again feeds and fuels the Ukrainian government, military, security, intelligence services. You take away that, you really do enfeeble the Ukrainian services," he said.

On 4 March, it became known that Trump had decided to suspend all military aid to Ukraine, including that which was already on its way.

On 5 March, it was revealed that intelligence sharing, including that related to Russian missile launches, had also stopped. Unofficially, this move by Washington has increased anxiety among NATO allies about whether the United States can continue to be trusted. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine could last until Donald Trump decides that Volodymyr Zelenskyy supports peace talks with Russia.