Rubio calls claims the US is withholding support from Ukraine 'scandalous' and says 'nothing' is being deliberately denied

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday 20 October rejected Ukrainian accusations that the United States has withdrawn support crucial to Ukraine’s defence. “That’s scandalous, that’s outrageous, that’s just simply not true,” he told reporters at the start of a trip to India, NBC News reported.

Rubio said he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a 45-minute call that nothing had changed in US support. “There’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” he said. On missile interceptors, which he called “the most in-demand product” in the defence industry, he said: “When a country doesn’t get interceptors from the United States, it’s not because we are denying. We have our own needs too.”

Ukrainian officials have said Kyiv received no US early warning before Russian ballistic missile attacks on the capital on several occasions, and that Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink service, faces speed restrictions. “All of this suggests that some political decision has been made to slow down support for us,” Zelensky told a bipartisan US congressional delegation on Monday, NBC News reported.

Zelensky said after the call that he and Rubio had a “substantive conversation” about interceptors, early warnings and Starshield. Later in Oslo he called it a “good conversation”.

Background: The exchange follows President Donald Trump’s waiver of some sanctions on Russia and his remark on Monday that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine.”

See also: Zelensky tells Corriere US restrictions are “unfair”, then holds call with Rubio.