WASHINGTON, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency said Wednesday that the United States has paused intelligence support to Ukraine, on top of halting weapons shipments to the country that's still at war with Russia.

John Ratcliffe, the CIA chief, said in an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo that "(U.S. President) Trump had a real question about whether President Zelensky was committed to the peace process, and he said let's pause."

The decision came after a clash between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, where Trump demanded gratitude from Zelensky for the aid Washington provided to Kiev. The Ukrainian leader was asked to leave the White House without signing a minerals deal with Trump as originally planned.

Zelensky has since been trying to mend the relationship with the U.S. administration by efforts including sending a letter to Trump expressing his willingness "to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer," Trump said in his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

"I want to give a chance to think about that and you saw the response that President Zelensky put out," Ratcliffe told Bartiromo on Wednesday. "So I think on the military front and the intelligence front, the pause that allowed that to happen, I think will go away."

"And I think we'll work shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine," Ratcliffe said in an expression of optimism, adding that Washington and Kiev would work together to "put the world in a better place for these peace negotiations to move forward." Enditem

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