OSLO - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed on Oct 20 the resumption of US intelligence sharing on looming Russian strikes, but insisted Kyiv must be included in any future talks on its fate after meetings with US envoys.
“We are thankful that intelligence works... I’m speaking about early warning, what is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming,” Zelensky told reporters in Oslo.
After meetings with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner – US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who took part remotely – Zelensky said it was “important that we keep the conversation going... and work together on the decisions needed to end this war”.
Flanked by Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, the Ukrainian president insisted that “Ukraine wants peace more than anyone”.
Trump, meanwhile, said in Washington he wanted Zelensky to “make a deal” with Russia.
Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured since Trump partially lifted sanctions to strike a diesel-supply deal with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and slammed Zelensky as a warmonger for Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Zelensky has accused the United States of deliberately withholding vital intelligence and delaying military aid, saying on Oct 19 that Ukraine received no early warning of powerful Russian missile strikes that targeted energy facilities in the capital region.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have stalled in recent months, as Washington has shifted focus towards the war with Iran.
‘Needed to protect lives’
Ukraine has also reported a reduction in speeds on Starshield, the US military satellite system which it uses for battlefield communications and strikes on Russian-occupied territory.
Trump has denied ordering a reduction in speeds on the US government-owned and -controlled Starshield network after Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX developed it, said the order could only have come from the White House.
Ahead of the Oslo meeting, Zelensky said he held “substantive” and “constructive” talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Oct 20, in which he insisted that the Starshield system “needs to be restored” and that ballistic missile interceptors “are needed to protect lives”.
Speaking to reporters in Oslo, he said on Starshield, “we decided that maybe in 48 hours we will have again a connection”.
Zelensky told US senators on Oct 19 that “the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles” already paid for by European countries, and that the shipment was waiting for US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s signature.
He said several European countries were ready to transfer Patriot interceptor missiles from their own stockpiles but were still awaiting US approval.
The United States has denied making any changes to intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
Strained relations
The US leader has accused his counterpart of not trying to resolve the conflict with Russia.
Trump said he was ready to meet Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China in November to discuss denuclearisation, adding that talks could also cover the Ukraine war – fuelling fears in Kyiv that it was being sidelined.
Zelensky insisted on Oct 20 that Kyiv needed to be represented at any meeting regarding Ukraine’s future.
“I don’t know what the trilateral meeting will be about between America and China, and Russia, it’s up to them. But of course, if the are issues about Ukraine, our future, it can be acceptable only when we are at the table of negotiations. It’s absolutely clear,” he said.
Zelensky stressed the need to find a solution quickly.
“Of course we are not losing this war,” he said when asked, “but we are losing people... and time”.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Witkoff was headed on to Russia.
“Steve Witkoff will fly tomorrow to St Peterburg, where he will be meeting with Russian leadership and exchange ideas from this meeting and the proposals that have been worked on by European and American colleagues, and possibly pave the way for a meeting at leaders’ level,” he said.
“We hope that it will be possible to arrange a meeting in the very near future, allowing the American negotiators... Mr Witkoff, to brief President Putin on their contacts with both the Ukrainians and the Europeans,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Oct 20. AFP