Witkoff and Kushner may have threatened Ukraine with withdrawal of US intelligence data, - Axios
During talks in Miami, US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly warned the Ukrainian side that access to US intelligence might be cut off if Ukraine continued to carry out strikes on Russian oil refineries.
According to Censor.NET, Axios reported this, citing a Ukrainian official.
At the same time, the US side denied that it had threatened Ukraine with the suspension of intelligence sharing.
According to Axios, Witkoff and Kushner are considering visiting Moscow and Kyiv next week. The aim of the potential visits is to discuss new proposals for ending the war.
Thus, the US continues to seek possible terms for a peace agreement, whilst the issue of American support for Ukraine and its strikes on Russian energy infrastructure remains a subject of controversy.
What led up to this?
- On 9 October, US President Donald Trump stated that he had held talks with the Russian dictator Putin, with whom he had agreed on the supply of diesel fuel from Russia to US and global markets.
- According to him, Russia will "immediately" supply over 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, a further 500,000 tonnes in November, and another million tonnes "immediately afterwards".
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The US Treasury Department announced that, on Trump’s instructions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is immediately issuing a temporary general licence to permit the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the global market.
- In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia’s authorisation to sell petroleum products as an "investment in war" and called on the US to hold firm talks with Moscow and impose sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act.
- It should be recalled that, against the backdrop of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, the Russian authorities have repeatedly extended the ban on diesel fuel exports until at least the end of October.
- The US President has publicly stated that Ukraine must cease its strikes on the Russian energy sector, as this, he claims, is leading to a diesel fuel shortage. According to him, the shortage has arisen precisely because of the war in Ukraine, and not because of the US war against Iran.
- Similar statements have been made by other US politicians. For instance, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Ukrainian strikes on the Russian energy sector were causing an energy crisis. He cited the war with Iran as the second cause of the crisis.
