Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy met U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and European officials in Norway this week, hoping to prevent a deeper diplomatic rupture with President Donald Trump. The timing mattered: Witkoff was preparing to travel to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin, and Kyiv wanted tensions eased before he arrived.
A Strained Relationship
The meeting followed a difficult stretch. Trump had criticized Zelenskyy over Ukraine’s efforts to inflict heavy losses on Russia. Restrictions on SpaceX services forced Ukraine to slow down and cost it connections to its drones. Kyiv also accused Washington of withholding air defense missiles and intelligence used in its air alert system.
The United States blamed a technical fault. Zelenskyy said the early warning system worked again. “Hear when ballistic is coming, so we are thankful to American side. Now it works. It’s great,” he said.
Norway welcomed Zelenskyy warmly. He met alongside Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finland’s President Alex Stubb. Store said, “I’m happy that we were able to get together today to straighten out a few things and to agree that what matters now is to look ahead.” Stubb struck a similar note: “We have actually made a lot of progress. Under the radar in the past week or so. And now I feel that the process is back on track.”
The Interceptor Problem
Supply remains the hard constraint. Multiple European officials said the U.S. program to sell weapons to European countries for transfer to Ukraine was still working, but air defense interceptors remained in short supply. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth framed the issue as one of stockpiles. “We haven’t changed our posture in any way toward the Ukrainians. But certainly with things like interceptors, we want to make sure our guys have the most possible as well.”
That’s basic budgeting reality. American taxpayers fund a finite arsenal, and the Pentagon must weigh its own readiness against requests from abroad.
Trump’s Terms
Trump didn’t soften his message about what he expects from Kyiv. “Russia would like to get it done, but Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war. And if he doesn’t, I think it’s going to be a very bad thing. Look, we have given tremendous amounts to Ukraine. We’ve got nothing back, other than high diesel.”
The report said diesel prices had also risen because of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran. Zelenskyy responded with a plea for realism. “So, all of us want peace, Ukraine, Europe, United States, and we will see what will be tomorrow. Of course, we’re not losing this war, but we are losing people. And because Russia attacks, we’re losing people and time.”
Ukrainian and other European officials worry that Witkoff and the Trump administration increasingly view Putin as a partner in peace and business.
The Human Toll at Home
Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least four people overnight and injured dozens, including children. Strikes also hit a main highway during rush hour. Andrii Pakhalovych, a coffee shop owner, said through an interpreter: “If Trump wanted to, he would have given us at least those weapons long ago so that we could defend ourselves, so that we could protect our power and heating plants. In a month, we’ll have freezing temperatures. What are people supposed to do?”
The Case for More Pressure on Moscow
David Kramer, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state and executive director of the George W. Bush Institute in Dallas, Texas, argued in a separate interview that tougher sanctions—not pressure on Kyiv—were the answer. He said it was hard to know whether the apparent reset would last, and that disruptions to intelligence provision and Starlink and Starshield services had cost Ukrainian lives.
Kramer said Putin started the war in 2014, escalated it to full scale in 2022, and refused to negotiate an end. Ukraine and Zelenskyy, he said, had repeatedly shown willingness and flexibility to end the war.
He traced the relationship’s on-again, off-again course from the Feb. 28, 2025, White House blowup, when Trump and Zelenskyy were essentially shouting at each other, to an improvement that included U.S. sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft, which he described as the two largest Russian energy companies. More recently, Washington’s rhetoric had suggested Ukraine was at fault. Kramer called the repeated shifts exhausting and unnerving for Ukrainians.
Kramer said Russia had dangled improved relations, including business deals and nuclear negotiations. Putin had also floated a possible summit in Beijing the following month, when Trump was due to travel there for a major international conference. Ukrainians, he said, would have great difficulty accepting a meeting between Putin, Chinese leader Xi and Trump to discuss Ukraine without Ukraine.
His prescription was specific: Additional pressure on Putin was “the way to end this war,” he said. That means tighter sanctions, action against the shadow fleet Russia relies on to fund its war effort, and measures against Russian banks, companies and individuals. He also called for military assistance to resume, either through Europeans buying U.S. weapons for Ukraine or through direct aid.
Kramer noted that the Senate passed the Lindsey Graham sanctions legislation 86-11, with a sizable margin in the House. Surveys, he said, showed Americans supported Ukraine. He acknowledged that Republican foreign policy had changed, with America First prioritizing different issues, but argued that backing Ukraine served U.S. national interests. Zelenskyy, he noted, had offered assistance when Iranian Shahed drones were hitting American targets in the Middle East.
Why This Matters:
The dispute exposes a tension every administration faces: how much of America’s finite military stock and treasury to commit to a war it doesn’t control. Interceptor shortages involve budget and readiness as much as diplomacy. Europe’s role as buyer and transferor of U.S. weapons shows allies carrying more of the load, a model many fiscal conservatives favor. Sanctions on Russian energy giants and the shadow fleet are market tools that raise Moscow’s costs without sending American troops. Whether Trump’s envoy can turn a Putin meeting into a durable settlement—or just a pause that rewards Russian aggression—will shape deterrence, energy prices, and the credibility of U.S. commitments well beyond Ukraine.
- volodymyr zelenskyy
- donald trump
- ukraine
- russia
- steve witkoff
- u.s.-ukraine relations
- russia sanctions
- military assistance