US intel key to aiding Kyiv before war: Blinken

United States intelligence was vital in building support for Ukraine ahead of Russia’s special operation earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

“You had confidence long before it happened that President Putin planned to launch this second military assault on Ukraine,” Blinken told employees at the Department of National Intelligence.

“The fact that we were able, and you were able, to get to a place where we could downgrade and declassify an unprecedented amount of intelligence, made all the difference in building that coalition so that we were ready to go on day one and we had the world with us,” he said.