WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for suggesting that the US has been cutting off critical intelligence warnings of incoming Russian ballistic missile attacks.
“I don’t know where he’s getting these things from or why he’s saying these things to the press,” Rubio told reporters in Uzbekistan in response to Zelensky’s latest complaint. “There’s been no pause. Zelensky should be focused on bringing an end to this war.”
Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials have claimed that they have gone without several intelligence warnings about the Russian ballistic missile strikes, which they have limited means of defending against due to their short supply of Patriot interceptors.
“We have dozens of countries who help,” Zelensky told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday. “But only [the] United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles. And we didn’t get it.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for Ukraine to find a way to end the war.
The Ukrainian leader claimed there were three instances of intelligence warning blackouts last week and several Ukrainian officials said they had a similar issue Sunday evening as well.
American officials have insisted to The Post that the US has not stopped intelligence sharing with Ukraine and has not interfered with Starshield access. One source suggested Ukraine is blame-casting for something that could have gone wrong on their end, while another said Zelensky’s heated comments have not been helpful.
In a recent interview with Breitbart, Rubio also accused Ukraine of striking American energy ships in the Black Sea.
“We have seen strikes on energy vessels in the Black Sea. And there’s been complaints, a lot, because we have American companies calling us and saying, ‘Hey, that was our oil on that ship that was hit by Ukraine,’” Rubio told Breitbart in an interview released Sunday.
“Now, I don’t believe Ukraine intentionally targeted them, but those ships got hit. And we already have a world that is facing an energy crisis,” he added. “We don’t need any exacerbating situations. And there’s been frustration that despite these asks, that has happened.”
Tensions between Washington and Kyiv have risen since President Trump’s Oct. 9 announcement that the US would import hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel in a bid to relieve prices at the pump.
Ukraine has taken the war to Russia by carrying out attacks on its belligence neighbor. AFP via Getty Images
During a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that same day, the Kremlin tyrant suggested that he, Trump, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping sit down and come up with a way to end the brutal war, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
“I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday amid bipartisan criticism of his handling of the war in Ukraine. “Great progress is being made.”
“Perhaps more importantly, Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way,” he added. “Zelensky is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with the US to restore intelligence sharing and full Starshield access. BETTY LAURA ZAPATA/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
On Friday, Trump halted plans to implement sanctions on Moscow under a bipartisan bill named in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Meanwhile, Ukraine has insisted that its access to a military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system, known as Starshield, was throttled in systems moving faster than 100 miles per hour last week — preventing its air defenses from responding to Russian-launched, Iranian-made Shahed drones.
It remains unclear who ordered the apparent slowdown, with both Musk and the Trump administration denying responsibility.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine set to mark its fifth anniversary in February of next year, Rubio said Monday that “no one’s winning that war.”
“This war is honestly about one part of Ukraine called Donetsk. The Russians occupy all but about 11% of that area in that province, Donetsk, or in that region of Donetsk,” Rubio told Breitbart. “The Ukrainians have a defensive line that they’ve embedded themselves in. They argue, and military strategists say is true, that it is the last defensible line. That if they give that up, there is nothing to defend Kyiv.”
“The Russians have not been able to advance in the battlefield and take that region … The United States remains willing, able, and prepared to play a mediating role if the opportunity presents itself to end this war through a negotiated settlement, which is how we think this war will ultimately end.”