Ukrainian President Meets U.S. Envoys in Norway Amid Claims of Reduced American Support

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo on Tuesday, while former White House adviser Jared Kushner joined via videoconference, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also attended. Kyiv has alleged that the United States has curtailed early-warning intelligence, limited access to the Starshield satellite service and delayed delivery of ballistic-missile interceptors, claims the administration says are unfounded.

In a virtual address to a bipartisan Congressional delegation, Zelenskyy said the restrictions have hampered Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian attacks and suggested a political decision was behind the slowdown. He later told reporters he had a "substantive conversation" with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about missile interceptors and early warnings, thanking Rubio and "everyone in America who supports fair approaches."

Rubio responded that U.S. support for Ukraine remains unchanged and that nothing is being deliberately denied to Kyiv. > "There’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine," he said at the start of a trip to India. > "That’s scandalous, that’s outrageous, that’s just simply not true. That’s not accurate," he added after the call.

The meeting comes as President Donald Trump has recently waived sanctions on Russia and approved a diesel fuel deal, moves critics say signal a shift in U.S. policy toward the Kremlin. Trump has also suggested Zelenskyy find another negotiator and downplayed recent Russian missile strikes, stating that Russia "has been fine on Ukraine" and "hasn’t been doing much."

The talks occurred against a backdrop of renewed violence in eastern Ukraine, where officials in the Kharkiv region shared images of a one-year-old girl killed with her mother in a Russian attack on a public park.