San Francisco Frontiers - Ukraine on back foot as Kremlin moots US, China meeting

The government in Kyiv first said it was caught off-guard last week, when a wave of ballistic missiles and fast-moving attack drones slammed into the capital and elsewhere before air raid sirens could sound.

President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the United States of withholding vital intelligence and slowing speeds on the Starshield system used on the battlefield to launch counter-strikes, prompting denials from Washington.

Relations have been strained between the two capitals since Donald Trump partially lifted sanctions to strike a diesel-supply deal with Vladimir Putin and slammed Zelensky as a warmonger for Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The Kremlin added to fears in Kyiv that it could be sidelined by the White House in efforts to end the conflict by suggesting Trump could meet Putin and China's Xi Jinping at an upcoming Asia-Pacific summit.

Russia's latest strikes again struck Ukrainian energy facilities and infrastructure across the country, knocking out power to more than 500,000 people and forcing emergency repairs to the battered grid.

"Once again, there was no early warning from our partners," Zelensky said, as he catalogued the damage, deaths and injuries.

Six people, including three children, were killed in a strike near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the authorities said.

In a thinly veiled attack, Zelensky hit back at Trump after the US leader said Ukraine's own strikes on Russian refineries were "seriously hurting" the global cost of diesel and accused him of wanting to prolong the war.

"Ukraine never wanted this war," Zelensky said, instead pointing to Putin, who ordered his troops into Ukraine in February 2022, for doing nothing to de-escalate nearly five years of bitter fighting.

"It is crucial to call things what they are," he added. "To call the aggressor an aggressor and help Ukraine defend lives.

"When deliveries of missiles for Ukraine's air defence are blocked while Russia is granted relief or delays in sanctions, this is, unfortunately, a denial of reality on the part of our partners."

- Trilateral? -

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to Uzbekistan, on Monday denied that intelligence-sharing had been withdrawn with Ukraine, backing Trump's call for Zelensky to focus on ending the conflict.

Trump had also denied being behind an instruction to slow speeds on the US government-owned and -controlled Starshield after Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX developed it, said the order could only have come from the White House.

Zelensky said frontline units had reported that Starshield equipment "stops functioning at speeds of 130-160 kilometres (80-100 miles) per hour in various sectors of the front".

"This is slowing down our frontline logistics and limiting the use of various types of drones, particularly mid-strike drones and interceptors of jet-powered 'shahed' (drones)," he added.

Zelensky, who has pushed without success for advanced US Patriot interceptor systems to boost Ukraine's air defence, also said there were "delays in certain types of vital supplies" at the US defence ministry, without elaborating.

Talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II are deadlocked, with Russia refusing to give up its claim to Ukrainian territory and Ukraine steadfastly refusing attempts to force it to do so.

Trump had vowed a swift end to the war when he returned to office but since then has appeared to swing behind Russia, including calling for Zelensky to be replaced.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "the topic of such a hypothetical has indeed been mentioned", when asked about a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday that Trump, Putin and Xi could meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19.

Beijing and Washington both said they had no information on a possible meeting.

But Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said that would "only encourage Putin to continue this war".

B.Turner--SFF