A Pentagon agency said on Friday that it had “temporarily suspended” the sharing of satellite imagery with Ukraine in accordance with orders from President Trump, the latest in a series of steps taken by the administration to pressure Kyiv into peace talks with Russia.
The move, by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, could shut off a vital window on the war for Ukraine, which has used satellite images purchased by the United States to track the movements of Russian troops and to assess damage to infrastructure on both sides of the long front line, according to a Ukrainian defense news agency.
The Trump administration has also halted military aid and stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine after a contentious White House meeting last week with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The end of American assistance, analysts said, could reorder the battlefield and potentially give Russia a decisive advantage.
President Trump has so far ignored Russia’s role as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine, but on Friday, he said that he was “strongly considering” imposing new sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a cease-fire and permanent peace deal was reached. His message came after Russian forces unleashed a massive bombardment aimed at critical Ukrainian infrastructure overnight on Thursday and on Friday.
Maxar Technologies, a Colorado-based company that has provided satellite images to Ukraine through a Pentagon program, confirmed the suspension of imagery sharing in a statement, emphasizing that it abides by the “contractual commitments” it makes with customers like the United States and other countries.
