U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington is "almost" ready to resume intelligence sharing with Ukraine. He also stated that he expects positive outcomes from the upcoming talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
This was reported by Reuters.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on March 9, Trump said that the United States is close to lifting the "pause" on intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
"We are almost there," Trump said in response to a question about whether he is considering unlocking the transfer of intelligence data to Ukraine.
"CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated that the U.S. halted intelligence sharing with Ukraine as leverage on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to encourage him to cooperate with Trump in conducting peace talks with Russia."
Trump also expects positive outcomes from the talks between the U.S. and Ukrainian delegations, which are scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia on March 11, specifically to determine if Ukraine is willing to make material concessions to Russia in order to end the war.
"I believe we will make significant progress this week," he stated.
The talks will also address a mining agreement that would allow the U.S. to access Ukraine’s rare earth resources.
"They will sign the mining agreement, but I want them to want peace... They have not shown that to the extent they should," Trump said.