Marco Rubio denies pause in sharing information with Ukraine

O chief of U.S. diplomacy, Marco Rubio, said today that there was “no pause” in sharing intelligence information with Kyiv and urged Ukraine to “end the war.”.

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that the US shared information with Kyiv again after “three days,” thanking Washington for the end of the blockade, which made it difficult for Ukraine to respond to Russian attacks.

In an interview with NBC, Zelensky said that sharing information “was blocked for some time and then was unlocked by the North American side,” he said.

“ We're grateful for that. Now it is working,” he said, adding that the absence lasted “three days during the ballistic attacks” in Moscow.

“ I don't know where he gets all this or why he shares this with the press. You should ask him. There was no pause,” said the US Secretary of State.

“ Where he must concentrate (...) it is to end the war”, said Marco Rubio, during a visit to Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The U.S. and Ukraine have lived in the last few days a moment of great tension, with the Ukrainians reporting that Washington has limited the transmission of security information, which has caused embarrassment in the use of the Starlink satellite system, owned by the millionaire Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump accused Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of “not wanting to end” the war with Russia.

The US leader defended the decision not to impose further sanctions against Russia, as well as the agreement between Washington and Moscow, announced days earlier, allowing the United States to import Russian oil.

Trump also argued that the so-called Graham Act on new sanctions against Russia should now be signed, and that Moscow should withdraw from the negotiations.

The Republican associated the Ukrainian attacks against Russian oil refineries with rising fuel prices worldwide, exacerbated by the Middle East war triggered by the US and Israel attacks on Iran.

Marco Rubio reaffirmed that 60-day exemptions are intended to buy time, “to see if discussions can lead to something positive”.

Asked about a report from the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, according to which Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, a November meeting to discuss the end of the conflict – excluding Ukraine, therefore – the Secretary of State was evasive.

“I don’t know if this was accomplished,” Rubio said. But the US President “was clear: he wants the war between Ukraine and Russia to come to an end”.

“ As for our relationship [with Ukraine], our goal is to end the war,” a conflict that “no one is winning,” Rubio added, stressing once again the risks of the conflict spreading throughout Europe.