U.S. Resumes Intelligence-sharing With Ukraine After Pause, Zelenskyy Says

Oct 18 (Reuters) – The United States has resumed offering Ukraine crucial intelligence to assist it defend in opposition to Russian missile strikes, after a short pause, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated in feedback printed on Sunday.

Ukraine has relied on US intelligence to identify the fast-moving ballistic missiles that Russia has fired in waves at its cities. U.S. President Donald Trump had stated earlier this week that Washington was nonetheless sharing intelligence, though Ukrainian officers stated some Russian strikes had occurred with out warning.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Zelenskyy stated intelligence-sharing had been interrupted however later “de-blocked.”

“We are very grateful for this,” he stated. “Now it really works.”

But Zelenskyy stated different US actions, comparable to signing a deal to import Russian diesel and waiving sanctions on Russia that had been slated to take impact this week, will harm Ukraine.

“If the United States will formally take the aspect of Russia, after all if these two nations might be collectively, after all we is not going to prevail and we will be unable to face,” he stated.

Over the previous week, a widening rift between Trump and Zelenskyy has sparked considerations that their tumultuous relationship may result in even worse outcomes for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy instructed NBC that he hopes Trump will stay an ally of Ukraine.

“We wish to belief him, and I hope that he’ll change his choices,” Zelenskyy stated. “Because I believe that it’s all errors and it’ll not assist us. And it is not going to assist United States.”

In a Truth Social publish on Sunday afternoon, Trump wrote that his decision-making was geared toward avoiding something “that may drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining desk.”

Ukraine will get US assist that Russia doesn’t obtain, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent instructed NBC, citing intelligence-sharing and the supply of U.S. munitions to different nations for resale to Ukraine.

But Bessent, talking with “Meet the Press” after it aired Zelenskyy’s interview, didn’t instantly reply when requested a number of occasions whether or not the United States views Ukraine as an ally.

“Zelenskyy presents a false binary this morning that Ukraine should win,” Bessent stated. “The battle should finish, and that might be with some form of a negotiated settlement.”

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Michael Derby; Editing by Joe Bavier, Sergio Non and Edmund Klamann)