US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a 45-minute telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, assuring him that nothing is being deliberately denied to Ukraine as tensions between Washington and Kyiv grow.
“There’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” Rubio told reporters, according to reports. “There has not been some deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine.” Zelensky described it as “a substantive conversation” focused on ballistic missile interceptors, early warning of Russian attacks, and the Starlink and Starshield situation.
Growing friction
The call was an effort to de-escalate friction that erupted 10 days ago when President Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia while US envoys were negotiating with Ukrainian officials in Miami, according to reports. On Monday, Zelensky lobbied a bipartisan group of senators to press the White House to lift what he described as restrictions on weapons and intelligence sharing.
Ukraine has suffered disruptions to early-warning systems for incoming Russian missiles, which rely on American intelligence, while access to the Starshield satellite network appears throttled, hampering drone operations, according to reports. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has yet to approve a significant batch of Patriot interceptor missiles, according to Ukrainian officials. Both the administration and Elon Musk have denied a deliberate slowdown. Rubio emphasized that Trump is “frustrated” because “he doesn’t like to be blamed for things that aren’t true.”
Hours before Oslo
The call took place hours before a fresh round of peace talks in Oslo, where White House envoy Steve Witkoff arrived Tuesday to meet Zelensky and European leaders, according to reports. Zelensky thanked Rubio for his readiness to help and said they agreed to speak again soon. The conversation marks the latest effort to prevent the crisis between the US and Ukraine from escalating further. Whether the reassurances will be enough to restore trust remains to be seen as the Oslo talks unfold.
