Europe Provides Two-Thirds of Intelligence to Ukraine, Says French Foreign Minister

Europe now provides two-thirds of the intelligence Ukraine receives from its partners.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot made the statement in an interview with France Inter.

“Two-thirds of the intelligence provided to Ukraine now comes from European countries, including France,” Barrot said.

His remarks come amid US threats to cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine following Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Europe’s Intelligence Capabilities

European countries provide Ukraine with several types of intelligence, including optical and radar satellite imagery, intercepted radio communications, information on troop movements, and warnings about ballistic missile threats.

For example, to help detect ballistic threats, European countries provide Ukraine with information collected by ground-based electronic intelligence systems and long-range ground-based radars. These systems can track missiles after they rise above the radar horizon.

France previously announced a major upgrade of its strategic Nostradamus radar, located in the Eure-et-Loir department.

Unique in Europe, the radar can detect threats thousands of kilometres away, from the North Sea to the Ural Mountains,without mechanically rotating its antennas.

Developed in the 1990s by France’s aerospace research agency ONERA, the system had remained mothballed for an extended period.

Amid growing threats from Russia and Iran, France’s Ministry of the Armed Forces has decided to bring the radar back into operation, investing more than €50 million in its modernization.

The radar works by bouncing high-frequency radiowaves off the ionosphere, allowing it to detect objects beyond the horizon. Its antennas, spread across a 12-hectare star-shaped array, can monitor a volume of several million cubic kilometres, from the ground to an altitude of 250 kilometres.

Meanwhile, Germany also plans to deploy a constellation of more than 100 military satellites in low Earth orbit in the coming years to provide secure communications and track missiles.