The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) has reportedly stopped providing satellite imagery to Ukraine, for which the US pays, according to multiple media outlets citing a statement from the agency. The decision was made in line with President Donald Trump’s “guidance to support Ukraine” the statement said.
The move follows a decision by Washington to halt further deliveries of weapons and intelligence data to Kiev, which in turn was a result of a dispute that took place at the White House on the previous Friday between US President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “playing with a third world war” by refusing to seek peace with Russia.
On Friday, the Washington Post, ABC News and other news outlets reported, citing the agency’s statement, that the NGA had temporarily suspended Ukraine’s access to commercial satellite imagery, which the US government purchases. The NGA is part of the US Department of Defense.
On the same day, Maxar, a leading US provider of commercial satellite imagery, released a statement confirming that the “US government has suspended the Ukrainian accounts” in the GEOINT image service “on a temporary basis.”
According to the Washington Post, the Ukrainian military, particularly its artillery and drone units, had heavily relied on the NGA’s services. The newspaper quoted several Ukrainian soldiers as saying that the “suspension was immediately felt” by Kiev’s troops.
The Washington Post noted, however, that Kiev could still access these types of satellite images through its own accounts.
In a news report on X, Oliver Carroll, an editor at The Economist, stated that the US had stopped providing Ukraine with the data needed to conduct long-range attacks against Russian targets using the HIMARS system.
Also on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox Business News that Trump had asked for a pause in the provision of intelligence data to Ukraine to determine if Kiev was willing to negotiate a peace with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Washington’s decision to stop providing intelligence data showed that without the direct involvement of the West, Ukraine would not be able to “launch long-range rockets at our territory.”
In a comment on this topic on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskow expressed cautious optimism, saying that if the US were to completely stop providing support, it would likely be a “good contribution to the cause of peace.