US resumed sharing intelligence with Ukraine on Russian strikes, says Zelensky | Ukraine

The United States has resumed sharing intelligence with kyiv on Russian missile strikes, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday after a meeting with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Norway.

He added that Ukraine was again receiving advance warnings about ballistic missile attacks, which the White House reportedly suspended last week. “Now it works. It’s great,” he said, adding that the US decision would save lives.

The Ukrainian president said: “This is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when the ballistic missiles are coming. So we are grateful to the American side.”

The Oslo talks took place amid the worst crisis in U.S.-Ukraine relations since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion nearly five years ago. Donald Trump bitterly blamed Zelensky for failing to end the war and said Ukraine needed a new leader.

On Tuesday, Trump again suggested that Zelensky was the main obstacle to a deal. “We want Zelensky to make a deal. He can make a deal. He could have made a deal two years ago when we had our little conversation in the Oval Office,” he said.

Trump also said he had asked Putin to free Stephen Hubbard – an American taken prisoner by Russian forces in occupied Ukraine – in a further sign of his growing public alliance with Moscow.

The US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joined Witkoff and Zelensky by video for the interviews. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also attended, alongside security officials from the EU and UK.

Zelensky said he had a “positive” telephone conversation earlier with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Asked if Ukraine was losing the war, after recent hostile actions by the United States, Zelensky replied: “Of course, we are not losing. But we are losing people because of Russian attacks and the weather. It’s a shame.”

He said he spoke with Rubio about restrictions imposed last week on Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk’s satellite internet service. The slowdown has crippled Ukraine’s ability to launch medium-range drone strikes on Russian battlefield positions.

Zelensky said he offered to stop Ukraine’s long-range attacks on Russian oil refineries – a key Trump demand – if the United States provided kyiv with Patriot missile interceptors. The Pentagon blocked the delivery of Patriots paid for by other countries to kyiv, leaving kyiv more vulnerable than ever to air attacks.

Speaking on Tuesday, Zelenskyy also said he opposed a trilateral summit launched by Putin, which would see Russian leader Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet next month to strike a deal with Ukraine. Zelensky would be excluded, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“There can be nothing in Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelensky said in Oslo. He added: “If this is about Ukraine and our future, this can only be acceptable when we are at the negotiating table. »

The Washington-kyiv crisis began 10 days ago when Trump announced he was lifting U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel, in a bid to lower fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. He then announced an energy ceasefire, which kyiv enforced for several days but which Russia ignored.

Despite this, Trump bitterly attacks Zelensky. He effectively positioned the United States as Russia’s ally, favoring Moscow over kyiv, much to the dismay of America’s pro-Ukrainian European and British supporters. American peace proposals largely echo Russia’s maximalist demands.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned Tuesday whether US negotiators had been honest dealmakers in peace efforts. Witkoff has had numerous meetings with Putin in Moscow, while he has only visited kyiv once so far.

“Although U.S. negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into capitulation for … a year and a half now,” Ukraine did not surrender on Putin’s terms “because Europe supports Ukraine,” Kallas said.

Tuesday’s talks came after Zelensky told a bipartisan group of U.S. politicians that he believed “a political decision was made to slow down… the support that we have.”

U.S. officials have denied this, but have failed to convincingly explain why satellite communications services were reduced or intelligence sharing temporarily halted.

Speaking to reporters in India, Rubio insisted nothing had changed. He said Patriot interceptors were rare and were needed in other parts of the world, as well as for the United States’ own defense. “There was no deliberate political directive aimed at harming Ukraine,” he insisted.

At least nine people were killed in Ukraine on Tuesday. Among them were passengers traveling on the Kyiv-Odessa highway. A Russian drone crashed into two vehicles, killing three people and injuring four. One of the victims was the driver of a shuttle going from the capital to a military cemetery.