France to help Ukraine with vital military intel

Paris: France is providing military intelligence to Ukraine after Washington announced it was freezing the sharing of information with Kyiv, French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday.

The US said Wednesday it had paused its intelligence sharing with Ukraine, cutting off the flow of vital information that has helped the war-torn nation target Russian invaders, but Trump administration officials have said that positive talks between Washington and Kyiv mean it may only be a short suspension.

American intelligence is vital for Ukraine to track Russian troop movements and select targets. Speaking to France Inter radio on Thursday, Lecornu said France is continuing its intelligence sharing.

“Our intelligence is sovereign,” Lecornu said. “We have intelligence that we allow Ukraine to benefit from.”

Lecornu added that following the US decision to suspend all military aid to Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron asked him to “accelerate the various French aid packages” to make up for the lack of American assistance.

While the driver did not seem to be ideologically motivated, prosecutors said that the man, whose identity was not revealed in line with German privacy rules, has several previous convictions. Lecornu said that in the wake of the US decision, shipments of Ukraine-bound aid from Poland had been suspended.