Rubio denies US paused Ukraine intelligence sharing — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Marco Rubio told reporters in Uzbekistan on Monday there had been "no pause" in US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, rejecting Zelenskyy's account of a recent interruption.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that intelligence sharing had been cut off but was now restored — "Now it works" — and credited the Starshield military satellite network with spotting Russia's fast-moving ballistic missiles.
- Zelenskyy warned that Washington's deal to import Russian diesel and its waiver of sanctions set to take effect this week amount to siding with Moscow, saying Ukraine "will not prevail" if the US and Russia stand together.
- Donald Trump defended temporarily waiving sanctions on Russian diesel to lower fuel prices, accused Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war, and claimed Ukraine was deliberately striking Russian refineries to damage Republicans in the November 3 midterm elections.
- Scott Bessent called Zelenskyy's framing a "false binary" and branded as "reckless" the Ukrainian president's charge that the Trump administration had slowed SpaceX satellite communications to Ukraine.
- A Russian missile attack on Kyiv overnight killed one woman, wounded several people, and damaged a metro station, a medical facility, an educational institution, and a nonresidential building, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko and the State Emergency Service.
Why it matters: The dispute elevates a tactical intelligence question into a direct public confrontation over whether Washington is tilting toward Moscow: Trump is actively waiving Russian sanctions to ease US fuel prices while pushing Kyiv toward negotiations, and Zelenskyy is openly warning Ukraine cannot survive on those terms. With Russian missile strikes on Kyiv continuing overnight and the November 3 midterms approaching, the rupture has immediate operational stakes for Ukraine's missile defenses and political stakes for Trump's party.
Ask SkimNews
