‘Especially problematic’ Blinded by Trump’s intelligence-sharing pause, Ukraine loses ground in Russia’s Kursk region

The suspension of U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine has reportedly contributed to Russia’s recent successful offensive in the Kursk region. Ukrainian soldiers speaking from the front by telephone told The New York Times that the lack of American intelligence in the region has been “especially problematic.” Meduza reviews how the increasingly rocky relationship between Washington and Kyiv is affecting events on the battlefield inside Russia.

A high-ranking U.S. military official told the New York Times that the suspension of intelligence sharing has "hurt Ukraine’s ability to detect and attack Russian forces in Kursk and hampered its ability to strike high-value targets.”

A source in the Zelensky administration told TIME magazine that the absence of U.S. intelligence had primarily affected Ukraine’s ability to conduct military operations inside Russia. “Not only Kursk — in all Russian territory there are problems now,” the source said.

Russian forces launched a major offensive in the Kursk region late last week. On March 8-9, troops recaptured eight settlements: Loknya, Malaya Loknya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, Kositsa, Lebedevka, Viktorovka, Nikolayevka, and Staraya Sorochina (by comparison, Russian forces regained control of only five towns in the entire month of February). According to calculations by the news agency TASS, based on the Defense Ministry’s statements, Russian forces had liberated 32 towns in the Kursk region as of the evening of March 9.

On Monday, March 10, the “Sever” military grouping announced that “the Russian flag had been raised” over four more towns, though Meduza has not yet verified this information.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on March 10 that he has “no doubt” that Russia will reestablish full control over the Kursk region, but he again refused to speculate on when this might happen. “Regarding the Kursk region: of course, there are no deadlines. Our military is doing everything possible to clear our land of militants as quickly as possible,” Peskov told reporters.

A day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said his office had “just about” restored intelligence sharing with Ukraine, indicating that the policy depends on the results of upcoming talks with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia. “We just about have. We just about have,” Trump told Reuters when asked if he plans to resume intelligence sharing with Kyiv.