Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview published Tuesday that if President Trump "cannot rein Putin in," he should provide long-requested interceptor missiles so Ukraine can defend itself, as the war of words between the two leaders continues to escalate. "If you cannot rein Putin in, then give us interceptor missiles so I can protect our energy infrastructure," Zelenskyy told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera, referring to Russia's autocratic President Vladimir Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said later Tuesday that Mr.
Trump has been "frustrated" by what he described as false accusations that "he is doing things to deliberately harm Ukraine." He insisted that nothing had been "deliberately denied to Ukraine," but added: "It's simply, it's a balance between our obligations to other partners and frankly our own ... requirements for our own facilities as well." The exchange came as Zelenskyy prepared to meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Norway on Tuesday, with his fellow envoy, Mr. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, expected to join remotely. Zelenskyy has accused the Trump administration this week of delaying shipments of interceptor missiles to Ukraine, as well as constraining Starlink satellite data that is vital to Ukrainian forces' ability to intercept incoming Russian attack drones.
Ukraine has nearly run out of the U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors used to take down Russian ballistic missiles, and Zelenskyy has long pleaded for more. This week he said the U.S. was delaying delivery of Patriots already purchased by European nations for Ukraine. Rubio, on a visit to India, said "every other country in the world" also wanted Patriots.
"I also talked to Saudi Arabia today. They'd like interceptors. Israel would like interceptors.
We would like interceptors. Every country in the world would like interceptors," he said. "It's probably the most in-demand product right now in the defense field.
So, when a country doesn't get interceptors from the United States, it's not because we're denying." The meeting comes as daily Russian drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities continue claiming civilian lives, and as relations between Kyiv and Washington appear more strained than they have been since Zelenskyy's tumultuous February 2025 meeting in the Oval Office. The Ukrainian president said Monday that his country had suffered another night of Russian strikes, "and again there was no warning from partners." At least four people were killed in the capital in the latest attacks, Kyiv officials said Tuesday. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Finnish President Alexander Stubb would also join the talks in Oslo, with "the aim to put diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path," according to a statement from the prime minister's office.
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