The Ukrainian leader has sought congressional intervention amid an increasingly bitter confrontation with the White House<\/p>\n
Vladimir Zelensky has appealed to a bipartisan group of US senators to pressure President Donald Trump into lifting alleged restrictions on American military assistance and intelligence sharing, Axios reported on Monday.
\nDuring a virtual meeting with lawmakers led by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democrat Richard Blumenthal on Monday, Zelensky complained about alleged disruptions to weapons deliveries, satellite communications and early warnings of Russian missile attacks, according to a transcript obtained by Axios from Ukrainian officials.
\nThe Ukrainian leader suggested that Washington had deliberately \u201cslowed down support\u201d to force Kiev into accepting a negotiated settlement with Moscow.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Time for someone other than Zelensky to speak for Ukraine \u2013 Trump<\/p>\n
The lobbying effort comes as Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Kiev\u2019s refusal to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, which the American president has blamed for worsening a global diesel shortage and driving up fuel prices for US consumers.
\nThe dispute escalated earlier this month after Trump struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports and increase supplies to the global market. Kiev publicly condemned the agreement, accusing Washington of making concessions to Moscow behind Ukraine\u2019s back.
\nUS envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly reminded Ukrainian negotiators during talks in Miami that Washington was supplying Kiev with weapons and intelligence and that Ukraine should not pursue attacks that hurt American consumers. Ukrainian officials interpreted the remarks as a threat to suspend that assistance unless the refinery strikes stopped.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Rubio rebukes Zelensky over Starlink claims<\/p>\n
Washington has denied issuing any such ultimatum. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected claims that Washington deliberately restricted intelligence sharing or Starlink access. The Pentagon has likewise denied changing its intelligence-sharing policy.
\nYet Zelensky continued to challenge the administration, telling senators that SpaceX\u2019s Starlink and the US military\u2019s Starshield satellite systems remained partially restricted and that Ukraine had missed US early warnings about Russian ballistic missile attacks on three occasions over the past week.
\nHe also accused Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of holding up Patriot interceptor missiles and AIM-9X missiles that NATO countries had already purchased for Kiev. The Washington Post separately reported that the Pentagon had yet to authorize certain transfers of Patriot missiles from third countries.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump has made a deal with Moscow, but Zelensky has other ideas<\/p>\n
Following the meeting, Blumenthal pledged further congressional action, saying bipartisan support for Kiev remained \u201cclear and unequivocal.\u201d
\nTrump, meanwhile, lashed out at Zelensky on Monday, accusing him of obstructing efforts to end the conflict and suggesting that someone else should negotiate on Ukraine\u2019s behalf.
\n\u201cZelensky doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s time for Zelensky to get someone else to negotiate\u2026 We\u2019ve given a lot to Ukraine, they\u2019ve given nothing to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ukrainian leader has sought congressional intervention amid an increasingly bitter confrontation with the White House Vladimir Zelensky has appealed to a bipartisan group of US senators to pressure President…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t