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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday there had been "no pause" in U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine and urged Kyiv and Moscow to focus on ending the war, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the intelligence had been blocked for three days before being restored.
"There has been no pause," Rubio told reporters in Samarkand, where he is meeting Central Asian officials. "What he (Zelenskyy) should be focused on and what we want to be focused on is bringing an end to this war," he said.
The conflicting accounts underline growing friction between Washington and Kyiv after Trump's diesel deal with Russia and his waiver of new sanctions, as Ukraine relies heavily on U.S. intelligence to warn of Russian ballistic missile strikes.
"It was blocked for some period of time. And then it was deblocked by the American side. We are very thankful for this. Now it works," Zelenskyy told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"Only the United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles. And we didn’t get it during ballistic attacks during three days," he added.
On Starlink, Zelenskyy said he believed "it was a message from American government to limit the speed. And technically, SpaceX did it."
He said restrictions remained on Ukraine’s use of Starshield, the military version.
"President (Donald) Trump and Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio have categorically said that no one in the Trump administration did that. And I think it is very reckless for President Zelensky to make such a charge," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC.
Trump said Friday: "It wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon. From what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been."
Rubio said Saturday that Ukraine’s request for access to Starshield was under discussion.
"It’s not at this moment available to Ukraine, and that’s under conversation," he said, adding Kyiv wanted it for deep strikes inside Russia. "Starshield is a contract with the U.S. military. It has nothing to do with Ukraine."
"I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate. We have nothing to do with that," Rubio said of the Starlink disruption, noting, "No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn’t use it."
Zelenskyy said it would be "a historic mistake and a big tragedy" if the U.S. formally sided with Russia, but said he still considers Trump an ally.
"We want to trust him, and I hope that he will change his decisions. Because I think that it’s all mistakes and it will not help us. And it will not help United States," he said.
"If these two countries will be together, we will not prevail, and we will not be able to stand," Zelenskyy said.
Responding to Trump’s remark that he is harder to deal with than Putin, he said it is "better to have partners who are very open and clear than to have those who are killers, even with a smile on their face."
Asked about a possible summit of Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Rubio said: "There’s been talks of a meeting. I don’t know whether it’s been finalized, but the president has been clear. He’d like the war in Ukraine and Russia to end."
"We see nothing good coming from this war," Rubio stated.
"We see a lot of downside to it, including the very real risk of escalation and spread of this thing into another country because of a failed sabotage attack, because of drones that are hit with electronic warfare and they wander into a neighboring country," he added.
Rubio described Trump’s sanctions waiver as a 60-day pause to analyze the global economic impact.
"Geography is real. For some countries, it’s very difficult to acquire energy from alternative sources. That’s not an excuse, but all of that has to be balanced when making foreign policy," he said, as Washington and Kyiv remain at odds over U.S. support.
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