Zelensky accuses Trump of seeking Ukraine's surrender

BarcelonaTen days after a new crisis erupted between the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyiv believes that the New York tycoon is seeking Ukraine's surrender to Russia. This was stated by Zelenskyy in an interview with Bloomberg in which he considers that Washington's delays in sending the anti-ballistic missiles necessary to protect the population and infrastructure from Russian attacks and the lack of cooperation in intelligence, among others, are measures that seek to "convince Ukraine to capitulate".

"I am not saying that our American partners believe the war could end sooner at Ukraine's expense, but that is what it seems like," Zelenskyy affirmed in statements that confirm that tensions between Washington and Kyiv continue, triggered by Trump's deal with Moscow to buy Russian diesel. Since then, Trump has taken new steps in moving closer to Putin, such as the temporary suspension this Saturday of a package of sanctions against Russia, and Zelenskyy reads them as a way to force Ukraine into surrender.

In a moment of extreme vulnerability for Kyiv due to the shortage of interceptor missiles for the Patriot system, the only ones that can respond with guarantees to Russian ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian president explained that Washington has not authorized their shipment, despite them being paid for by the European partners that fund Kyiv. The United States sends 12 a month, according to details provided by Zelenskyy, while Ukraine needs dozens to respond to a single Russian attack.

Pause in intelligence

Following the failed energy ceasefire announced by Trump, which Russia violated, the Ukrainian president has said that the United States only wants Ukraine to stop attacking Russian diesel and that, if it does not, they will “disconnect it from something”. In recent days, Kyiv has reported restrictions on the internet connection that its army receives from the American company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, and interruptions in the transfer of intelligence information that Washington provides to Ukraine to prepare for the launch of Russian ballistic missiles.

Cooperation in intelligence is another area where Zelensky maintains that the United States is putting sticks in the wheels of the Ukrainian defense. The Ukrainian president has assured that no partner —without citing Washington directly— has warned the Ukrainian army of a Russian attack with 16 ballistic missiles this Monday at dawn in several waves. According to the Ukrainian air forces, none of the Russian missiles were intercepted. It is the third time in a week that Ukraine reports that the United States is not transferring intelligence information about Russian attacks.

Zelensky attributes the deterioration of the relationship with Trump to the midterm elections in the United States, which will be held on November 3. With Trump in a slump in popularity, the Ukrainian president has pointed out that “politics is very aggressive in election times” and has expressed confidence that the relationship will improve once the elections are over. “Now there is agony, but life will go on after the elections and I believe everything will be calmer”, he said.

The United States, however, denies having suspended intelligence cooperation with Ukraine. “There has been no pause”, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who urged both Kyiv and Moscow to “focus on ending the war”. Meanwhile, the attacks continue and Russia has bombed Kyiv this Monday in response to the drone aggression against Saint Petersburg this Sunday. The Ukrainian capital has been the target of daily attacks for almost a month.

Meeting with Trump and Xi

Taking advantage of the rapprochement with Trump, Putin has proposed a three-way meeting in which the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, would also participate, to negotiate a pact regarding the war in Ukraine. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the Russian president has proposed that the meeting be held next month with the intention of capitalizing on Trump's lukewarm stance toward Russia and being able to propose an agreement favorable to Moscow.

Ukraine, however, does not look favorably upon a proposal that it believes would encourage Moscow to continue the war. “A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia could help end the war sooner, but a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the United States would do the opposite: it would encourage Putin to continue the war,” said the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, who also considered that the meeting would “feed the delusions of grandeur” of the Russian leader. “He is not a global leader. He is a war criminal,” remarked Sybiha, who insisted that Russia is not “a world power,” but rather “a global problem.”