OMM Newsroom
A hug from US envoy Steve Witkoff to Volodymyr Zelensky before talks in Oslo did little to resolve the Ukrainian president’s concerns about the direction of US policy towards his country, battered by war, according to the BBC.
Zelensky posted a video of the greeting on social media, writing: “Ukraine is working for peace. I thank our partners for their support!” But after a turbulent month, questions remain over whether he still considers Donald Trump a partner.
The two leaders have never been close. In the past 10 days, both their words and actions have pointed to a rift in an already strained relationship.
“Zelensky’s not a good guy for us to deal with,” Trump told “Newsmax” last week. On Monday, asked about Zelensky’s suggestion that a US deal to buy diesel from Russia put Washington on the wrong side of history, Trump replied: “Zelensky doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Trump’s personal attacks are part of his forceful approach to diplomacy, but it can be difficult to know whether they signal a lasting change. In June, he criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he “has no f**king judgement”. Four months later, Trump praised Netanyahu as a “great warrior prime minister”.
“Trump can always do another U-turn,” Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform said. “But this does look bad.”
Zelensky has generally been cautious in describing his unpredictable but important US counterpart. This month, however, he voiced frustration, telling a US congressional delegation there had been “decisions on the American side that are hard to explain between friends” and warning that “some political decision has been made to slow down support for us.”
Responding to Trump’s claim that he was the main obstacle to a negotiated settlement, Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Monday: “We have welcomed literally EVERY attempt by our partners to end this war with dignity.”
Disputes over weapons, sanctions and intelligence
The two countries have faced a crisis before. After their televised confrontation in the Oval Office in February 2025, during which Trump accused Zelensky of “gambling with World War III”, the US suspended military assistance and limited intelligence sharing. The crisis lasted a week.
Later that year, when the Trump administration decided it no longer wanted to fund direct military assistance to Ukraine, a system was established for European countries to pay for US equipment. One exception has been the Patriot air-defence missiles Ukraine needs, following the US war with Iran this year.
With supplies scarce worldwide, deliveries to Ukraine have slowed sharply, making it harder for Kyiv to intercept Russian ballistic missiles. The “Washington Post”, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official, reported that Ukraine had “only a couple” of Patriot interceptors left in its stockpile and that the Trump administration had slowed approval for US allies seeking to transfer their own supplies. US officials have not confirmed the reports.
The latest concerns come as Kyiv faces a difficult situation. Earlier this month, Ukrainian negotiators arrived in Miami for talks with Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s envoys, and learned that the president had reached a deal with Vladimir Putin to open US markets to Russian diesel.
Experts questioned whether the deal would significantly lower US petrol prices ahead of congressional midterm elections, which appeared to be its motive. But it also signalled US displeasure at Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries and Washington’s willingness to make deals with the Kremlin, amounting to a rebuke of Kyiv.
Last Friday, Trump went further by waiving broad sanctions on Russia two days before they were due to take effect. He said sanctions under the Graham Act, named after former South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, would obstruct his efforts to broker peace. Graham, a vocal supporter of Ukraine, died in July.
For Kyiv and its supporters, the move was another worrying sign that the White House was siding with the Kremlin. “What the Trump administration is doing is providing carrots to the Russians and sticks applied to the Ukrainians,” William Taylor, a former US ambassador to Kyiv, told the BBC. “It’s inexplicable and saddening.”
Kirill Dmitriev, a senior envoy to Putin, called the decision “an important and truly historic moment”. In Moscow, it was seen as a return to the “spirit of Alaska”, a phrase Russian officials have used since the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage in August 2025.
Further concerns have followed allegations, not confirmed by Washington, that the US restricted intelligence sharing and interfered with Ukraine’s access to “Starlink”, the satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk’s company.
As Russia intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, Kyiv said it had not been receiving advance warnings based on US satellite intelligence. “We didn’t receive it during ballistic attacks for three days,” Zelensky told “NBC News”. On 12 October, five Russian S-400 missiles hit Kyiv, reportedly before air-raid sirens or mobile alerts sounded.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that intelligence sharing had been paused, attributing the temporary absence of early warnings to a “software problem”.
There has also been uncertainty over Ukraine’s access to “Starlink”. A week ago, Ukrainian officials said the service was being throttled, leaving terminals unable to maintain connections at high speeds and making it more difficult for the military to intercept fast-moving Russian drones.
Since the summer, Ukraine has struggled to counter a wave of attacks by advanced, jet-powered drones. It remains unclear who ordered any limits on Ukraine’s use of “Starlink” or its military-grade equivalent, “Starshield”. “Reuters” reported that the order came from the White House. Rubio said: “No-one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet.”
The recurring suspicions point to a lack of trust in US-Ukrainian relations. Much of it is rooted in Trump’s apparent long-standing mistrust of Ukraine and Zelensky in particular.
Past grievances and a new round of diplomacy
A decade ago, Trump became convinced that Ukraine had tried to prevent him from becoming US president. Among several unfounded allegations was a claim that the US Democratic National Committee had a server hidden somewhere in Ukraine.
When Zelensky became president three years later, he resisted Trump’s demands to investigate allegations of election interference. In a July 2019 phone call, Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, who went on to defeat him in the 2020 presidential election. Zelensky refused.
At the time, the White House was withholding $391m (£290m) in military assistance to Ukraine. The situation ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment. Whether resentment over those events continues to shape Trump’s current policy towards Ukraine remains an open question, but relations have again taken a sharp turn.
After the Oslo talks, Witkoff is taking an updated set of proposals to St Petersburg. Attention will now turn to Putin.
Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Støre said the Oslo meeting had helped “to straighten out a few things”. “There’s nothing to gain from… digging into what was said yesterday or a week ago,” he said.
Zelensky said the day had begun with a productive conversation with Rubio and indicated that the early-warning issue had already been resolved. He also sounded optimistic about Patriot missiles and “Starlink”.
“I think we will have good results too,” he said. Despite the hopeful tone after the talks, Zelensky and Trump once again appear to be at odds.
