The war in Ukraine has continued to rage in the days after President Donald Trump declared an energy ceasefire there, with Russia targeting civilian and energy infrastructure as the U.S. applies pressure on Kyiv to halt attacks on oil refineries in Russia, which Trump says are to blame for the high price of diesel fuel.
As the president’s announcement of a partial ceasefire Sunday — covering energy infrastructure in both countries — failed to yield any limits to the fighting, he continued to apply public pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The U.S. government-owned satellite infrastructure used by Ukraine’s military for drone navigation and air defense on Wednesday was not operating at its normal functionality, raising concerns that American support for Kyiv was ebbing.
Zelenskyy said on a British television program Wednesday that his country was “losing a strong partner” in the United States, days after he said his military did not receive critical early warnings from partners of attacks that it had come to expect.
Six people were killed in strikes in Ukraine on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said.
A defense ministry official in Kyiv said overnight Wednesday that restrictions placed on Starshield, a satellite communications network owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but contracted for use under terms set by the Pentagon, “disrupted” a number of “critical missions” in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian source said the restriction gave the Russians “real leverage on [the] frontline” by inhibiting the military’s ability to defend against jet-powered Shahed drones. As the hours passed Wednesday, the Starshield limits began to loosen, but remained a concern for Ukraine.
The source said SpaceX did not warn Ukraine of the move or answer questions about the rationale for the halt.
Elon Musk, the chief executive of SpaceX, said on Wednesday that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately [President Trump.]”
The White House, Pentagon and SpaceX did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
‘Only hurts Ukrainian forces,’ analyst says
George Barros, an open-source analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said “US decisions to throttle [Starshield] only harms Ukrainian forces on the defense in Ukraine,” noting that Ukrainian forces have never been permitted to use the SpaceX networks for strikes deep into Russia.
“This decision will significantly degrade Ukraine’s mid-range strike capability — a key driver of Ukraine’s recent battlefield momentum in 2026,” he said in a post on X.
Intelligence sharing from military to military is America’s primary contribution to Ukraine’s war effort, analysts said, providing key early warnings for Russian strikes and targeting information.
Trump said Tuesday that intelligence sharing was continuing as usual.
A Ukrainian source in Kyiv on Wednesday said warnings did come overnight Wednesday — but they were late.
European allies of Ukraine would look to fill any gap left by a U.S. drawback on intelligence sharing, but two European officials acknowledge there would still be a gap in Ukraine’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
The battlefield impacts come amid tensions between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents — and between negotiators working on a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
Trump says Ukraine causing ‘a world problem’
Trump has insisted the two sides stop targeting energy infrastructure, but he has focused in particular on Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries. Over the weekend he struck a deal with Moscow to release diesel exports into global markets.
Trump said on Saturday Ukraine should not “hit the refineries, because that’s [caused] a world problem.”
After a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Trump said he would authorize a Treasury Department license for the export of Russian diesel, overriding existing sanctions.
Gregory Brew, an energy analyst at the Eurasia Group, said the deal — which would facilitate the export of some 74,000 barrels a day of diesel, a fraction of the amount Russia exported less than a year ago — was motivated by Trump’s domestic political calculations.
“All of this is being driven by the administration’s desire to bring down fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections to try to improve Trump and the Republicans’ outlook in that vote,” Brew said. “So this is all being driven, I would say, largely by short-term considerations geared around energy prices and the midterm election outlook.”
U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators, including Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, met Friday about a potential peace framework in Miami, where tensions rose over the arrangement with Russia.
Made aware of the forthcoming announcement from Trump, Ukrainian negotiators cut the meetings short, according to a source familiar with the Miami talks.
Looking for leverage
Two days after the Miami talks, Trump on Sunday said Ukraine and Russia did agree to a ceasefire on energy targets, but neither side corroborated the claim. A U.S. official told ABC News Trump’s announcement was driven by his frustration with the Ukrainian president to compromise on an energy truce.
Zelenskyy has said he would order his military to abide by a truce only if Putin would do the same.
“If Trump really does want Zelenskyy to make concessions — either to agree to this energy ceasefire or to permit this this diesel deal [with Russia], or to to bow to a broader deal that is maybe a little bit more favorable to Russia — he’s going to look for ways to to exercise that leverage,” Brew said, referring to a potential curtailing of intelligence sharing.
The Kremlin has also been mum about the ceasefire, with Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the diesel deal and a broader peace agreement were on separate tracks.
Peskov reiterated what he called Moscow’s consistent position “that we do not want a ceasefire” but instead “want lasting peace.”
Trump’s pressure campaign on Kyiv may be aimed at facilitating his diesel deal with Russia, Brew said.
“I would imagine that the Russian requirement for this deal to move forward is a halt to attacks on refineries,” he said. “Russia needs its refineries to be operating under ideal circumstances in order to ramp back up diesel exports.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Wednesday that Ukraine remained ready to enter into a ceasefire, conditional on Russia laying down its arms simultaneously. Tensions with the Americans were not new, he said, recalling a Trump outburst in the Oval Office a month into his presidency, when he scolded Zelenskyy publicly.
“In less than two years, Ukraine has gone from ‘You don’t have the cards’ to ‘Don’t play your cards,'” Sybiha said Wednesday.
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