The Kremlin is downplaying reports out of the Wall Street Journal and Reuters which cite unnamed US officials to say the Trump White House has quietly reversed policy on providing Ukraine with intelligence to assist in hitting long-range targets on Russian territory. The entrenched narrative is that the US under Trump had resisted this, and that it was Biden who had really put in place the American intelligence-sharing apparatus in Ukraine.
Specifically, as The Wall Street Journal reports, "The U.S. will provide Ukraine with intelligence for long-range missile strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, American officials said, as the Trump administration weighs sending Kyiv powerful weapons that could put in range more targets within Russia."
But Moscow's response has been unexpectedly calm and cool, with a statement describing that nothing in fact has change, highlighting that US intelligence had already been flowing to Kiev for a long time.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "The US transmits intelligence to Ukraine on a regular basis online. The supply and use of the entire infrastructure of Nato and the US to collect and transfer intelligence to Ukrainians is obvious."
In the opening months of Trump's second term, the president got the warring sides to agree to a halt on attacking each other's energy sites. Though it held for perhaps weeks, it didn't take long for the moratorium to break down.
Ukraine especially has used it as a tactic to try and bring Russia's war machine to its knees. And there are recent reports showing some degree of success in inflicting economic pain.
"President Trump recently signed off on allowing intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to aid Kyiv with the strikes. U.S. officials are asking North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to provide similar support, these people said," WSJ continues, marking the first such instance of Trump openly greenlighting Ukrainian strikes on Russia with long-range missiles.
The question of providing Tomahawks still remains an open one, and the Kremlin has said it would be "surprised" if the White House allowed such a serious escalation. Still, J.D. Vance early this week said the administration is seriously looking at the European request.
"The expanded intelligence-sharing with Kyiv is the latest sign that Trump is deepening support for Ukraine as his efforts to advance peace talks have stalled," WSJ adds.
International estimates are that thus far during the war Ukraine has struck a whopping 21 out of Russia's 38 refineries, some of them more than once, which has proven costly - also as sanctions have made it hard to find parts for quick repairs.
This alleged 'policy change' may be the direct result of heightened lobbying from Zelensky and the Europeans. After Zelensky was in New York last week for the UN General Assembly, Trump wrote on social media, "After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form." But this was also a way of simply handing off the bulk of the war effort to the Europeans, which itself could prove highly dangerous, even if Trump wants to washing his hands of it.