{"id":6619,"date":"2026-10-19T18:23:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619"},"modified":"2026-10-19T18:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:25:44","slug":"us-ukraine-relationship-worsens-amid-trump-and-zelenskys-mutual-distrust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619","title":{"rendered":"US-Ukraine relationship worsens amid Trump and Zelensky\u2019s mutual distrust"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>7 Minute, 4 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n

The relationship between\u00a0Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0and the United States is facing increasing strain over intelligence sharing, sanctions, Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy and the path to peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There also appears to be deepening mutual distrust between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump on Monday accused Zelensky of not knowing what he was talking about and suggested it was \u201ctime for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the weekend Kyiv launched one of its biggest drone attacks this year on\u00a0Russia<\/a>, hitting a key oil terminal, in defiance of Trump\u2019s demand that Ukraine stop hitting Russian refining plants.

The White House is trying to relieve pressure on oil and diesel prices in the US ahead of crucial midterm elections, as diesel prices are at a record high.

Last week Trump called Kyiv\u2019s strikes on Russian oil refineries a \u201cdisgrace\u201d and said Zelensky was more difficult to deal with than Russian leader Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview on Sunday, Zelensky hit back, saying it was \u201cbetter to have partners who are very open and clear than to have those who are killers, even with a smile on their face,\u201d an apparent reference to Trump\u2019s relationship to Russia.

Trump again criticized Zelensky on Sunday, claiming in a Truth Social post that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to end this war, and probably never did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship now seems to be at its lowest ebb since the explosive meeting<\/a> at the White House 18 months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky has consistently said he is open to peace negotiations if Ukraine\u2019s security can be guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ukrainian president said he spoke to US envoy, Steve Witkoff and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner on Sunday as part of \u201cnonstop communication\u201d to work towards the goal of peace. Zelensky added later he was hoping to meet the two \u201cmaybe in Norway in the coming days.\u201d CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the meeting.

\u201cWe are doing everything on our part to make this happen, and to ensure that America\u2019s position is strong and helps bring peace closer,\u201d Zelensky posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUkraine never wanted this war, and we have welcomed literally EVERY attempt by our partners to bring this war to a dignified end,\u201d Zelensky added on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky also spoke to Pope Leo XIV on Monday, according to the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pope spoke to the Ukrainian president just days after a phone call with Putin in which he expressed his concern about the \u201cgrave humanitarian situation\u201d in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, where Ukrainian authorities say around 2,000 civilians are stuck without access to food or basic medicine.

Trump has defended recent concessions to Russia on sanctions, which have included a waiver to allow Russian diesel exports and another exempting Russia from sweeping economic penalties mandated by the US Congress.

\u201cI am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don\u2019t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,\u201d Trump wrote in his Sunday post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview Sunday with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Zelensky said the waivers strengthened Putin\u2019s war against Ukraine while Moscow was failing on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is growing anxiety in Kyiv and Europe that the Trump administration will make further concessions to Moscow in an effort to get Putin to agree to a peace deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky told \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that the US siding with Russia would be a \u201chistoric mistake.\u201d He said he wanted to trust Trump and hoped he would change his attitude to Putin.

Asked if Trump was an ally of Ukraine, Zelensky said: \u201cI hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Zelensky appealed directly to the US Congress, holding an online meeting with a group of lawmakers from both parties. He described the current situation as \u201cthe most difficult situation from the very beginning of this war\u201d and saying that it appears as if \u201csome political decision has been made to slow down support for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ukraine is also perturbed by reports of a possible three-way meeting involving the US and China next month on settling the conflict \u2013 without Ukrainian involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s been talk of a meeting. I don\u2019t know if anything\u2019s been finalized,\u201d US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to Uzbekistan Monday.

Trump said on Monday that he\u2019d consider a trilateral meeting with Putin and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping \u2014 but said that the sitdown would focus on denuclearization, not Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ukraine criticized the idea, arguing such a meeting would not help peace but \u201cwould do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war,\u201d Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInviting Putin to such a meeting would feed his appetite for self-aggrandizement and give him a stature he does not deserve,\u201d Sybiha wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kremlin said Monday that \u201cno concrete proposals or agreements \u2013 neither regarding the meeting itself nor its potential agenda and content \u2013 have been discussed or put forward by anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attacks persist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Defying Trump\u2019s demands, Ukraine is keeping up long-range strikes into Russia. One target at the weekend was the St. Petersburg Oil Terminal. The terminal can handle up to 12.5 million tons per year. Ukraine\u2019s Fire Point company, which makes the drones used in the attack, said there was a fire on the terminal\u2019s grounds following the strike.

A logistics center in St. Petersburg was also attacked, according to Ozon, a Russian distribution company, as well as a data center for the Russian VKontakte social media platform.

One person was killed and five wounded in the attacks, with residential homes damaged as well, according to local authorities.

A week ago, Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed<\/a> to stop attacking each other\u2019s energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow acknowledged such an agreement. Ukraine briefly halted such attacks, but Russia never stopped pounding Ukraine\u2019s energy plants and cities.

\u201cSince the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week \u200bago, Russia has \u200bdeliberately \u200cattacked \u200bUkraine\u2019s energy and oil and gas sectors \u206076 times,\u201d Zelensky \u200bwrote on X Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Zelensky said a Russian drone attack in the Kharkiv region killed six people, including three children. Sharing a blurred photograph of one of the victims \u2013 a small child in a stroller \u2013 Zelensky said the horrific image showed \u201cthe truth about this war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLives must be protected. Ukraine needs air defense. You can\u2019t think about making money with Russia as long as it continues its asinine war,\u201d he said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accusations have also flown over the cuts in US satellite intelligence provided to the Ukrainian military.

Zelensky repeated on Sunday that changes in the Starlink system owned by billionaire Elon Musk was limiting the speed of its short-range and battlefield drones, describing it as a \u201cmessage from the American government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk said last week that the systems are owned and controlled by the US government, meaning that only the government could decide to place limits on their speed or usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration has denied it ordered the service restricted. On Monday, Trump said he didn\u2019t know who it was that restricted it, but would \u201clike to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly the Trump administration has pushed back on accusations from Kyiv that intelligence on incoming ballistic missiles is not being shared.

Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv had received no advance warning of ballistic missile attacks on Sunday night \u2013 something he claims has occurred multiple times in the past week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother Russian ballistic missile attack came in several waves overnight, and once again, there was no early warning from our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US satellite networks are critical in providing the Ukrainian military with warnings of incoming missiles. Russian ballistic missile attacks are aimed at crippling civilian life and destroying essential infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where he\u2019s getting these things or why he\u2019s saying these things to the press,\u201d Rubio told \u200creporters Monday. \u201cYou should go back and ask him. There\u2019s been no pause.\u201d

\u201cWhat he should be focused on, and what we want to be focused on, is bringing an end to this war. That\u2019s what he should be focused \u200bon,\u201d Rubio said of Zelensky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kyiv and Washington see very different paths to that goal.

Reprinted from CNN<\/p>\n

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The relationship between\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0and the United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1891,1521,617],"class_list":["post-6619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-trump","tag-ukraine","tag-us"],"yoast_head":"\nUS-Ukraine relationship worsens amid Trump and Zelensky\u2019s mutual distrust - abovecloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US-Ukraine relationship worsens amid Trump and Zelensky\u2019s mutual distrust - abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The relationship between\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0and the United States […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T01:23:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T01:25:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-16.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"860\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"573\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CrapeMyrtle888\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 \u5206\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"abovecloud\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-16.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-16.png\",\"width\":860,\"height\":573},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=6619\",\"name\":\"US-Ukraine relationship worsens amid Trump and Zelensky\u2019s mutual distrust - 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