Relations between Washington and Kyiv continue to spiral downward as Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump keep escalating tensions.
Currently, Zelenskyy is in Brussels, shoring up support from Europe while the White House expresses its frustration with Kyiv’s attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure.
Lancet Drone. Image Credit: Russian State Media.
Lancet Drone from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Ukrainian President has accused his American counterpart of betraying Kyiv and restricting Ukraine’s Starlink access for the Ukrainian military for political purposes.
At the same time, Trump is getting impatient with Kyiv’s refusal to accept any peace proposal with Russia.
The big questions right now are how far Zelenskyy is willing to go to upset his American donor and what power Trump actually has to rein in his Ukrainian allies.
U.S.-Ukraine Relations Declining
U.S.-Ukraine relations are entering a new, heated phase.
It began when President Trump announced that the U.S. intended to buy diesel fuel from Moscow to stabilize America’s domestic energy market.
Since the beginning of the war in the Middle East, the global energy market has been severely strained due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks against energy infrastructure.
Attacks against Russian refineries and infrastructure have also strained the global market, since Russia is a major energy exporter.
Despite the attacks, Moscow and Washington reached a deal in which the U.S. agreed to import large quantities of Russian diesel fuel to help bring down energy prices.
The deal is immensely unpopular at home and abroad, and many experts argue Russian fuel won’t be enough to stabilize high gas prices.
The deal was especially unpopular in Kyiv, which accused Trump and the U.S. of betraying Ukraine.
Tensions between the two have been shaky ever since Trump resumed office in 2025, but they improved during Ukraine’s long-range aerial campaign against Russian oil and fuel infrastructure this summer.
However, as Kyiv continued hitting Russia’s energy infrastructure, Washington began blaming Kyiv for high global energy prices.
More recently, Zelenskyy interpreted the diesel deal with Putin as a knife in the back.
Furthermore, Trump’s attempts to broker an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine were brushed aside in the East as Moscow ramped up its strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Kyiv adhered to Washington’s energy ceasefire for three days before publicly announcing its intention to continue its attacks against Russia’s energy sector.
Growing Rift Between Trump and Zelenskyy
After Trump’s demands to halt attacks against Russian infrastructure have been ignored, Trump spoke out on Thursday evening. “If you tell me that Zelenskyy is again shooting at refineries, all he’s doing is making the world oil price higher,” Trump told Newsmax. “I think that’s a disgrace. There’s plenty of other targets; they don’t have to hit.” Trump continued, saying he found Zelenskyy harder to deal with than his Russian counterpart. “Zelenskyy is not a good guy for us to deal with… I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I think I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.” Earlier, the President expressed frustration with Zelenskyy’s inability to strike a deal with Moscow, suggesting Ukraine should “find a new leader” who can.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has been touring Europe to drum up support from other NATO countries, whom he called “real leaders.” Earlier this week, he traveled to the UK, where he met with King Charles III and Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Now, the Ukrainian President is in Brussels, petitioning his European partners to provide more financial and military support.
Recently, Zelenskyy’s rhetoric against Trump has been quite harsh.
The anger stems not only from the diesel deal with Russia, but also from recent Starlink disruptions and a reported lack of U.S. intelligence.
Earlier this week, multiple sources in the Ukrainian military reported experiencing difficulties with the “Starshield” package, which provides a connection to Ukraine’s drones.
Multiple sources said they lost connection to their drones after exceeding certain speeds, complicating drone operations. According to Zelenskyy, the restrictions were being lifted, but slowly.
Starlink: Trump’s Most Potent Leverage
It is unclear who exactly ordered the Starlink restrictions.
A recent Reuters report confirmed that the White House ordered the U.S. military to impose the restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield package.
Elon Musk took to social media and said only the U.S. Military or the President himself could have ordered the restrictions.
However, a senior U.S. official told Reuters that Trump did not give such an order.
Another senior White House official may have issued the order as a warning to Ukraine.
The Starlink disruptions, brief and limited as they may have been, have already harmed Ukraine’s war effort.
Sources in the Ukrainian military noted that internet access along the front slowed noticeably after the restrictions, affecting communication and coordination along the front line.
Starlink is vital to Kyiv’s defensive efforts.
The service powers the military’s communications, connects to medium- and long-range attack UAVs, and links to interceptor drones used to intercept Russia’s Geran drones.
Starlink is also a capability unique to the U.S. Europe has no alternative, while China and Russia are actively developing their own satellite constellations.
Should relations with the U.S. reach a breaking point, Trump could decide to restrict further or perhaps even shut off Starlink in Ukraine, which would be devastating for Kyiv’s war effort.
About the Author: Isaac Seitz
Isaac Seitz, a Defense Columnist, graduated from Patrick Henry College’s Strategic Intelligence and National Security program. He has also studied Russian at Middlebury Language Schools and has worked as an intelligence Analyst in the private sector.
