Since Washington signaled energy-cooperation intentions with Moscow that
sidelined Kyiv, US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskiy have
clashed. The dispute, which began repeatedly over diesel cooperation, has
broadened to Starlink bandwidth limits and intelligence-sharing—issues with
direct implications for the Ukraine battlefield. On the 18th Russian Deputy
Prime Minister Novak, who oversees energy, reported new progress on shipments of
Russian oil to the US; the presidents exchanged public barbs that day and again
on the 19th, when Zelenskiy pressed the Starlink issue and Trump said Ukraine
should be represented in talks by someone other than Zelenskiy.
