Zelenskyy says it's Putin who wants an endless war, not him

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said Monday that his country had been subjected to another night of Russian missile and drone strikes, "and again there was no warning from partners."

Zelenskyy has accused the U.S. of limiting intelligence, and possibly other assistance to Ukraine amid renewed tension with President Trump, who accused the Ukrainian leader over the weekend of not wanting to end the war. Mr. Trump has significantly softened the U.S. government's policy toward Russia, easing sanctions to allow Russian energy sales  in a bid to ease U.S. gas prices.

Zelenskyy says the moves risk emboldening Moscow and enabling it to continue and intensify its four-and-a-half-year, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The target of the most recent strikes was energy and other infrastructure, Zelenskyy said, adding that a medical clinic, school, metro station and "ordinary residential buildings" were also hit.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine was still unable to use Starshield, an upgraded military version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite technology, to intercept Russian drones. The network is crucial to Ukrainian forces as it enables them to shoot down Russia's jet-powered drones and other weapons. 

The Trump administration has denied making any changes to the intelligence it shares with Ukraine, or deliberately slowing down Starshield data. 

Asked Saturday if the U.S. government was responsible for the change in Starlink service in Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was "not sure Zelenskyy knows what he's talking about, but it wasn't deliberate … we have nothing to do with that."

"The United States — nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it's been restored. It's back to where it was before," he said, without elaborating on what he meant by "it sort of happened."

Denys Sienik, Ukraine's chargé d'affaires and current top diplomat in the U.S., told CBS News in a statement later Saturday that Ukraine had still not received a response from the Pentagon or Musk's SpaceX to inquiries about Starlink or Starshield service, "including confirmation that unlimited speeds have been restored and that Starshield is operating as it did previously." 

"There are political agreements that have not been implemented at the working level," Zelenskyy said Monday in a post on X, adding that there had also been "delays in certain types of vital supplies at the level of the U.S. Department of War."

He did not expound on his assertion that the Pentagon was delaying shipments of supplies.

The Ukrainian leader issued the statement amid an increasingly terse exchange of accusations with President Trump who, over the weekend, accused Zelenskyy of not wanting the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion to end.

In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump said Zelenskyy "doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did."

"He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead," Mr. Trump argued.

The U.S. president has over the last month walked back sanctions on Russia — that had support from a majority of Republicans and Democrats — that were intended to increase financial pressure on Moscow over its assault on Ukraine.

"Ukraine never wanted this war," Zelenskyy said in another statement shared Monday on social media. "We took positively literally EVERY attempt of partners to end this war with dignity."

Just over a week ago Mr. Trump declared in a social media post that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an "energy ceasefire," which would mean a halt to attacks on the other country's energy infrastructure. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv acknowledged agreeing to any such deal, and within hours Ukrainian authorities reported new Russian attacks on refineries.

Zelenskyy said "again and again Russia's answers" to efforts at diplomacy were new attacks.

"Putin does not want the end of this war, or even any de-escalation steps," he said, adding: "It is very important to call things by their names. Call the aggressor an aggressor and help Ukraine protect lives. When the supply of missiles to Ukrainian air defense is blocked, and Russia receives a weakening or postponement of sanctions, this is, unfortunately, a denial of reality from partners. In reality, the war continues, and continues only because of Russian strikes — the Russian desire to prolong this war."

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has attempted to frame Russia as a willing partner in peace efforts.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Moscow values U.S. mediation efforts, but that reaching agreements without the participation of representatives from Kyiv is impossible. There have been direct talks, mediated by the U.S., between Ukraine and Russia, but so far the meetings have yielded little more than prisoner swaps, not ceasefires.

The Wall Street Journal first reported Sunday evening that Putin had proposed a meeting between U.S., Chinese and Russian officials to discuss solutions to the Ukraine war, but without a seat for Ukraine at the negotiating table. The newspaper said he proposed the idea for a summit during a call with Mr. Trump on Oct. 9. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Monday in a post on X that "a trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the U.S. would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war."