Macron says France now supplies two-thirds of Ukraine intelligence

President Emmanuel Macron told French military personnel that France now supplies roughly two-thirds of the intelligence Ukraine uses in its war with Russia, a dramatic repositioning of Paris’s role that follows a halt in Washington’s full intelligence sharing. Speaking at the Istres-Le Tubé air base on Jan. 15, 2026, Macron said the shift had occurred "in (the space of) a year" as Europe moved to fill gaps left by changing U.S. policy.

Macron framed the change as both operational and political. He said "where Ukraine was extremely dependent on American intelligence capacity, huge majority (of it) a year ago, in (the space of) a year, two-thirds is today provided by France," and added that the signal France and its partners were sending "to our Ukrainian partners, to other Europeans, and to the whole world is that we are ready. We are ready to support these resistance efforts. We are ready to deter new aggressions or to ensure peace on our land." His remarks underline a broader European effort to assume capabilities once concentrated in Washington.

French officials and allied sources identify a range of intelligence services Paris has scaled up for Kyiv, including satellite imagery, early warning of ballistic missile launches, tracking of Russian bomber flights, operational adjustments for HIMARS artillery systems, and targeting information for long-range strikes. Military planners say sustaining those flows requires not only analytic capacity but secure communications, satellite tasking and tailored data feeds, all of which carry continuing cost and logistics demands for France and its partners.

The French expansion follows a U.S. suspension of certain intelligence sharing in March 2025, which was linked to Washington’s political pressure on Kyiv to engage with a U.S.-led push for peace talks. French defence officials at the time warned the move would have significant operational impact and stressed Paris could provide intelligence independently of U.S. systems. Paris has since organized a coalition of roughly 30-35 countries to provide a mixture of financial, material and intelligence support to Kyiv.

Kyiv’s assessment of the shift is mixed. The former head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, has said Ukraine remained critically dependent on U.S. capabilities for satellite imagery and early warning, and Ukraine’s GUR agency declined to comment on Paris’s two-thirds claim. Those differing accounts reflect both the sensitivity of intelligence cooperation and the difficulty of quantifying contributions across multiple partners and classified sources.

The new French role has market and industrial implications. Paris and Kyiv signed a Nov. 17, 2025 declaration of intent on defence procurement that includes plans for around 100 Rafale fighters and priority access for Ukraine to the SAMP/T air-defence system. That agreement signals a boost for French defence manufacturers and a longer-term increase in European defense procurement, with likely budgetary pressures across EU states and expanded work for European supply chains.

Strategically, Macron’s announcement highlights a persistent shift toward greater European operational autonomy in security matters, driven by political divergence in Washington and by Europe's desire to reduce single-point dependencies. For Ukraine, diversified sources reduce exposure to political swings in any one partner but increase coordination burdens. For France, sustaining a majority share of Kyiv’s intelligence will require continued investment in space, signals and analysis capacities, even as Paris seeks to translate military support into diplomatic leverage.