France provides military intelligence to Ukraine as US freezes vital information

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 on Thursday.

It came as Russia’s Foreign Ministry rejected a peace proposal from France and Britain, describing it as an attempt to give Ukraine a chance to strengthen its military.

The US said on 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 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.

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

Mr 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.

Mr Lecornu said that in the wake of the US decision, shipments of Ukraine-bound aid departing from Poland had been suspended, adding, however, that “Ukrainians, unfortunately, have learned to fight this war for three years now and know how to stockpile”.

In Ukraine, a Russian ballistic missile killed four people staying at a hotel in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town during the night.

Mr Zelensky, who is attending an emergency EU summit on defence in Brussels, said a humanitarian organisation’s volunteers had moved into the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, just before the strike, including Ukrainian, American and British nationals. He did not say whether those people were among the 31 injured.

Russia fired 112 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as two ballistic Iskander missiles, at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the proposed break in air and naval attacks is an attempt to “secure a pause for the agonising Kyiv regime, the Ukrainian armed forces and prevent the front from collapsing”.

She said Ukraine would use any pause in fighting to strengthen its military, which would lead to prolonged conflict.

And Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov harshly criticised Mr Macron’s claim that Russia threatens Europe.

“This is a threat to Russia,” Mr Lavrov said at a briefing in Moscow, noting Mr Macron’s plan to convene a meeting of top European military officers to discuss purported aggressive plans by Moscow.

Mr Lavrov dismissed the allegations that Russia was hatching plans to attack European nations as “stupid” and “delirious nonsense”.

“For any more or less sane person it is completely clear that Russia does not need this,” he said.