US-Ukraine Intel Sharing Rebounds as Kyiv Gains Ground
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- Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the Senate intelligence committee's ranking Democrat, told POLITICO the US-Ukraine intel-sharing relationship has "improved," crediting Ukraine's use of long-range drones and missiles for enabling strikes deep within Russian territory and strengthening Kyiv's position.
- Early July Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure forced Moscow—one of the world's top fuel exporters—to halt diesel exports, creating what Kyiv has called a window of opportunity to leverage its current advantage to end the war.
- Trump reportedly approved intelligence sharing last year for Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, which Institute for the Study of War's George Barros called "supercharged" by American intelligence and part of a "larger, more coherent strategy for how to actually create real costs."
- Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) all corroborated the rebound, with Kaine—comparing his April 2025 and July 2026 visits to Ukraine—saying he "detects more confidence in the communication."
- Zelenskyy, during his July visit to the Oval Office, prefaced talks by claiming Kyiv planned to provide Trump with evidence that Russia was aiding Tehran in the US's five-month war against Iran.
- Trump's negotiating team—Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—has been preoccupied with the Iran war, bumping Ukraine down the priority list even as Zelenskyy appears to have risen in Trump's estimation amid Kyiv's battlefield gains.
Why it matters: The renewed US intel pipeline—corroborated by lawmakers from both parties—has enabled Ukraine's "supercharged" strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, halting Moscow's diesel exports and creating battlefield leverage ahead of stalled peace talks. But Trump's team remains consumed by the five-month Iran war, leaving Kyiv's gains in a diplomatic limbo despite Zelenskyy's rising standing with Trump.
