Ukraine just rejected America's stalemate claim and accused it of deals with Russia
1 hour ago · 8 October 2026Share
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen give a press point together on 17 August 2025. Dati Bendo / European Union, 2025 / EC - Audiovisual Service · CC BY 4.0
Volodymyr Zelenskyy just told Washington something it probably didn't want to hear.
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, called the war with Russia a strategic stalemate. Zelenskyy heard that and said no.
He said it earlier today, standing in Pryluky next to Ed Miliband, Britain's Foreign Secretary. A Russian missile hit an apartment building in that same town a day ago. 22 people died. Five of them were children.
So here's what Zelenskyy actually said. One cannot, on the one hand, negotiate with the Russians about future economic projects, whilst on the other hand say that we find ourselves in some sort of diplomatic stalemate. We are not in a diplomatic stalemate. Shut down their entire economy. Stitch Russia's mouth shut. Do not feed them with your sales, impose sanctions on their weapons.
That's Ukraine's president rejecting the exact word America's top diplomat just used about his war.
And where did that word come from? Rubio gave an interview to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, published earlier today. He said Russia's war against Ukraine has reached a strategic stalemate. He said it can only be broken by negotiation or more escalation.
Here's Rubio's own line. Right now, there don't seem to be prospects for a deal being negotiated. The Russians have defined victory as the totality of Donetsk. And that's a condition that, for Ukraine, is simply unacceptable.
Rubio says Washington is ready to play whatever role it can. But he says those efforts have gone nowhere so far. He pointed to a coordinated drone attack on ships in the Black Sea a day earlier as proof this could spiral. He also warned Russia is getting ready to hit Ukraine's power grid this winter to force a surrender, while Ukraine keeps hitting back deeper into Russia.
But Zelenskyy isn't just annoyed about one word.
He's pointing at something happening behind it.
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Kyiv skyline.Sergey Galyonkin from Raleigh, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Reuters reports that senior Russian and American officials have been talking. Jared Kushner, the US special envoy and Donald Trump's son-in-law. Kirill Dmitriev, an adviser to Vladimir Putin. They met in recent weeks to discuss bringing in an American investor to restore the Nord Stream gas pipelines. The same report said Trump's and Putin's teams also discussed selling off assets belonging to Lukoil, the Russian energy company.
That's the economic cooperation Zelenskyy says can't sit next to a declaration of stalemate.
So what does the White House say? A White House representative said any deal would have to go through America's Development Finance Corporation and the Treasury, and would need to benefit American companies and taxpayers. They added there had been no talks on Nord Stream recently. A US official separately said a deal is unlikely right now, given the obstacles. Germany's economy ministry says Nord Stream and Russian gas are still under EU sanctions, and that Germany has already found other supplies.
A group of Democratic and Republican senators sent a letter pushing the administration to use the tools in the Graham Act to pressure Russia. That report has not been confirmed anywhere else yet.
So is this a breakup? Not quite.
Zelenskyy isn't walking away from the table. He says Ukrainian negotiators will be in the US on 9 and 10 October. He told Donald Tusk, Poland's Prime Minister, that Ukraine is ready for three-way talks with the US and Russia. There are no obstacles on our part, he said. Reports suggest the US, Ukraine and Russia could meet in Abu Dhabi this month to talk about a partial or energy ceasefire.
The White House has not responded to what Zelenskyy said.
So what don't we know? Whether Zelenskyy just broke with Washington's whole approach, or whether this is pressure timed right before those talks. How far Kushner and Dmitriev actually got on Nord Stream. Whether that senators' letter means anything inside the administration at all.
Right now, America and Ukraine are calling the same war two different things. On the same day.
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