Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Washington has restored key intelligence it briefly cut off. Meanwhile, the US decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel is straining the transatlantic alliance.
Liberty Times of Taiwan, citing the Central News Agency, reported that Zelenskyy told NBC's Meet the Press, in an interview aired on the 18th local time, that the United States had begun supplying important intelligence again after a brief interruption. He said Kyiv was very grateful and that sharing had now been restored.
광고 문의 · 300×250According to Reuters, Ukraine has long relied on US intelligence to detect the high-speed ballistic missiles Russia fires in waves at major cities. Such data buys air defenses time to prepare interceptions, so a cutoff can translate directly into civilian casualties. The report does not say how long the interruption lasted or exactly when it ended, so those details are unconfirmed.
Background to the dispute
In an NPR interview published on the 13th, Zelenskyy claimed the Trump administration had warned it could cut intelligence sharing unless Ukraine stopped long-range drone strikes on oil refineries inside Russia. The White House did not confirm the warning and pointed to President Trump's remarks that the US is sharing intelligence and wants the war to end.
Liberty Times reported that Trump again said earlier this week that Washington was still sharing intelligence. Ukrainian officials, however, said some Russian strikes came without advance warning, and Zelenskyy complained that partners gave no early alert before a ballistic missile attack on a Kyiv power plant. The conflicting accounts could not be independently verified.
Diesel sanctions and Europe's response
NPR reported that Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel exports last Friday. Zelenskyy called it a weak decision by strong partners that would not lower US fuel prices and would only add to the Kremlin's war chest. He rejected the claim that Ukraine caused the price rise, blaming disruption in the Strait of Hormuz linked to the Iran war. AAA puts US diesel at about 6.27 dollars a gallon, more than 70 percent above a year earlier.
EUobserver reported that European Council President Antonio Costa said it was not the time to lift sanctions on Russia, while Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said none would be lifted unless Russia ends the war. The EU has adopted 21 sanctions packages and is discussing a 22nd. Zelenskyy warned that the diesel and coal arrangements were not isolated and that a gas deal could follow.
The Chinese academic view appears in an opinion piece on Huanqiu.com. Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' institute for Russian, East European and Central Asian studies, argued the move is largely driven by US domestic politics ahead of the November midterms, with a secondary aim of reducing escalation risk. He contended that the volume is too small to shift the global diesel balance, so the effect is psychological and short-lived, and that the lack of consultation damages trust with Ukraine and Europe. This is one scholar's view in a Chinese outlet, and figures he cites, such as polling, were not independently verified.
The restored intelligence narrows Ukraine's immediate air defense gap, but suspicion remains that sanctions relief and intelligence support are being used as bargaining chips. Kyiv and European capitals have been reminded that US support can turn conditional at any time, and calls for Europe to raise its own aid are likely to grow.
