Following a freeze in US military aid to and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, BND President Bruno Kahl has told DW that EU agencies are working to keep Kyiv "as informed as possible."
In his first public statement since President Donald Trump took office, Bruno Kahl said protecting Ukraine from Russia was something that the West "must achieve together."
"We very much hope that the Americans will soon be at our side again to help protect Ukraine from the aggression coming from the east," he said.
What Germany's spy chief said about the threat to the EU from Russia
Reacting to the news that the Untied States has restricted the sharing of military intelligence with Ukraine, Kahl said that the BND was now redoubling its efforts to work with other EU intelligence services "to see what we can do to keep Ukraine as informed as possible and to equip it so that it can defend itself."
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He warned that the kind of swift end to the war that Trump is seeking would "enable the Russians to focus their energy against Europe."
"We have seen hybrid influence operations, including during the elections that took place in Europe, right up to acts of sabotage ... in a manner that is unprecedented in the recent past," he said.
Kahl made reference to his previous warning that Russia may be looking to test the "reliability of NATO's Article 5," or the collective defense clause that underpins the alliance.
"We very much hope we won’t face the dilemma of it being tested. But we have to assume that Russia wants to put the unity of the West to the test," he said.
3 years of war in Ukraine — in pictures
It has been three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Thousands are dead, millions have been made homeless, there's widespread destruction — and now Ukrainians fear how this war might end.
Satellite pictures taken in late 2021 showed how Russian military and heavy weapons were gathering near the Russian town of Yelnya, close to the border of Belarus. On November 11, 2021, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to invade Ukraine. That did not stop Putin, who ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country on February 24, 2022.
Image: Maxar Technologies/AFP
Rocket attacks throughout Ukraine
The military operations on February 24 saw rockets hit a number of Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, Odesa and Kharkiv. In Kyiv, a military building was set alight during the attacks. The war — which Moscow insisted on calling a "special operation" — had begun.
Image: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo/picture alliance
'Strategic' violence in Bucha
Within weeks, Ukrainians were able to expel the Russians from cities in the north. After the Russians were pushed out, war crimes came to light. Images of tortured and murdered civilians in the Bucha district, near Kyiv, went around the world. Over 1,100 civilians in the Bucha district were killed, authorities reported. Investigators said the violence was methodical and strategic.
Image: Serhii Nuzhnenko/AP Photo/picture alliance
Life in ruins
According to Moscow, the "special operation" in Ukraine was only supposed to last three days. Three years later, the war continues. The latest reports from think tank the Institute for the Study of War indicate that Russia now controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory, mostly in the east. This picture was taken in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, in May 2023.
Image: Sofiia Gatilova/REUTERS
Russian vote 'flagrant violation of international law'
In September 2022, Russia unilaterally annexed four Ukrainian areas — Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — which add up to around about 90,000 square kilometers. A year later, the four areas were included in Russian regional elections. In a vote that was described as "a flagrant violation of international law," Putin's United Russia party won in each area with more than 70% of the vote.
Image: Alexander Ermochenko/REUTERS
Millions displaced, live as refugees
The war in Ukraine forced millions of people to flee, sparking a wave of migration unseen in Europe since World War II. According to the United Nations, 3.7 million people in Ukraine have been displaced by the fighting. Over 6 million left Ukraine altogether and moved westward into Europe, mostly to Poland and Germany.
Image: Filip Singer/EPA-EFE
Mariupol, city of Ukrainian resistance
Russia's 2022 siege of the southern city of Mariupol lasted 82 days. The city was heavily bombed and the last Ukrainian fighters barricaded themselves in a steel factory. After Russia bombed a hospital, a photo of a pregnant woman being evacuated went around the world. The picture was taken by Ukrainian journalists who later won an Academy Award for their documentary, "20 Days in Mariupol."
Image: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Russia's only connection to Crimea
At 19 kilometers (about 12 miles), the Crimea bridge is the longest in Europe and connects southern Russia to the Crimean Peninsula. In October 2022, the bridge was damaged by a bomb set by Ukrainians and became only partially usable. In July 2023, the bridge was damaged once again by Ukrainian forces.
Image: Alyona Popova/TASS/dpa/picture alliance
Environmental disaster
On June 6, 2023, an explosion damaged the Kakhovka Dam and emptied its reservoir into the Dnipro River. Ukraine and Russia both blamed the other for the disaster but, at the time, Russia controlled the dam. The resulting flood triggered an environmental disaster, wrecked thousands of homes and also likely killed hundreds — journalists later found that Russia had deliberately undercounted the dead.
Image: Libkos/AP Photo/picture alliance
Energy infrastructure targeted
Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Researchers say that a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 76% of thermal power plants had been destroyed. By September 2024, that figure had risen to 95%. Ukraine's grid has been severely weakened, which has resulted in power outages and a worsening humanitarian situation, especially in winter.
Image: Sergey Bobok/AFP
Ukraine attacks Russian territory
In August 2024, Ukraine's armed forces launched an offensive on Russian territory for the first time. Meeting little resistance at the borders, they were initially able to control around 1,400 square kilometers (about 540 square miles) in the Kursk region. But they have since lost two-thirds of the occupied territory.
Image: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images
Drone wars
Both Russia and Ukraine use drones for reconnaissance and surveillance, and also for targeted attacks. Experts say there are around 100 different types of drones are in use in Ukraine, from toy-sized machines to those the size of small planes. In March 2024, Ukraine said it was capable of manufacturing up to 4 million drones annually.
Three years of war have left lasting scars on Ukraine. In the east and south, many towns and villages, devastated by Russian attacks, are today more like ghost towns. The town of Bohorodychne, in the Donetsk region, came under heavy attack by Russia in June 2022 and is now almost empty.
Not all of Ukraine is on the front line. Far from the fighting, life goes on. Shops, cafes and restaurants are open, and locals have prepared for power outages by setting up generators.
Image: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP
US support for Ukraine in doubt
US President Donald Trump has talked about how he wants to end the war in Ukraine in "24 hours." Trump has not yet done this. However, his apparent closeness with Russia, his desire to pressure Ukraine into giving up its mineral wealth to the US and his recent war of words with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are causing concern in Ukraine and among its allies.
Image: Ukraine Presidency/ZUMA/picture alliance
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The effect of Trump's policies on security
The spy chief went on to say that the Trump administration's taking a different approach to nearly every conflict means that concerns over international security are "increasing, rather than decreasing," particularly as Russia ramps up spying on Europe and NATO member states.
"We all check our phones every morning to see what happened overnight, so we're not immune to surprises, even the radical ones," he said. Citing trust built up over decades between intelligence officials, he said "we have an interest in maintaining these working relationships."
Trump: Easier to work with Russia than Ukraine
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Intelligence sharing also key to preventing terror attacks
Kahl emphasized that intelligence sharing was also key to averting threats from international terrorism. Kahl's comments echoed observations by other experts that the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, were partly the cause of a breakdown of intelligence sharing — both between US agencies and internationally.
"No country can fight all the threats by itself," he said. "And that is why our friends on the other side of the Atlantic are very dependent on our information, just as we are on theirs."
The ability of international terrorism to "export terror to Europe once again via its main players, such as IS and al-Qaeda" had not diminished, he said, but was "unfortunately back."
Intelligence sharing is not just vital to open conflicts, Kahl said. Giving the example of the far-right NSU terror cell that operated in Germany in the early 2000s, the BND president explained that the practice was key when "many small individual incidents later turned out to have a larger context."
Kahl called on lawmakers to give Germany's intelligence agencies more powers, such as allowing them to transfer certain information to the military, the Bundeswehr.
"You may not believe it, but the legal basis for this is still missing," he said. Repeated attempts by the governments of former Chancellor Angela Merkel and outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz had failed in this regard.
Kahl said he has hope that likely future Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has been particularly hawkish on Russia, will be able to get the legislation through parliament.
