Why?
Well ever since the Russian President and the American President spoke over the phone 10 days ago?
US President Trump has been falling over himself to try and beat down and get rid of the Ukraine President Zelensky who has 57% of his countries people backing him against Russia and Trump….
Zelensky has been telling people he NEEDS US help…..
Trump is deaf to that and seems to be holding up military support (Patriot missiles) to Ukraine….
But the US Congress is NOT....
The Wall Street Journal is now reporting the Elon Musk HIMSELF is and has been throttling Starlink feeds to the Ukraine military which is looking at other European satellite services….
There is another round of talks coming , but do NOT hold your breath….
Putin , smiling, thinks he’s got Trump dancing HIS tune….
And the Russian Foreign Minister says any deal will need ‘Zelensky and his Regime Gone’…
While Russia is actually losing captured territory back to Ukraine and taking punishing hits to military and energy targets….
They keep pounding civilian targets in Ukraine cities…..
NATO is now moving military assets to the Black Sea which may be where it maybe getting involved against Russia….
Russia says it’s moving to help the starving people left in Russian-controlled town of Oleshky after the situation was reported in the media..
The Kremlin is counting the Trump administration’s latest turn against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a major triumph and, coupled with political upheaval in Europe, a sign that Western support for Ukraine is finally crumbling.
In the 10 days since Vladimir Putin last spoke by telephone with the American president, Donald Trump has announced a sanctions waiverfor Russian diesel supplies to the global market, throttled Ukraine’s access to vital battlefield satellite systems, put sweeping new sanctions against Russian on hold, as well as moved even more firmly to Russia’s side by calling for Zelensky’s ouster and holding up suppliesof critical interceptor missiles….
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Zelensky said on Sunday that if Washington aligned with Russia, Ukraine would not survive. If the United States will support Putin — it’s unbelievable, it’s a tragedy,” he told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “If these two countries will be together, of course we will not prevail. And we will not be able to stand.”
While the European leaders and Zelensky might hope to use the Oslo meeting to steer the Trump administration to a tougher stance against Moscow, Kremlin officials have been crowing that victory over Ukraine is on the horizon, and that Trump’s recent moves are steps toward an ever-closer alignment between Washington and Moscow.
Trump’s recent ratcheting-up of pressure on Zelensky could mean the U.S. president is again seeking to strong-arm the Ukrainian leader into a deal on terms favorable to Moscow….
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“Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Both Musk and President Trump have expressed anger at Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries in recent weeks, which the president blames for high energy prices. Last week, Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network, rendering some offensive drones and interceptor drones virtually useless.”
“Musk and Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the country had not changed its policy on sharing early warnings of Russian missile attacks with Ukraine and that the Pentagon was not deliberately withholding air defense missiles.
“There’s nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine,” Rubio said during a visit to India Tuesday, calling reports that the U.S. was not giving Ukraine early warning of Russian ballistic missile attacks “outrageous.”
“Everything they’ve been doing with Ukraine remains the same,” he said of U.S. Department of Defense policy. “That has not changed. Nothing has changed.”
Rubio’s comments come as Russia escalates its attacks and Washington moves toward positions more favorable to Moscow, raising European concerns that the U.S. is not a dependable source of support for Ukraine.
Rubio was speaking shortly after the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas accused Washington of trying to force Ukraine to surrender to Russia. “American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for already almost two years,” she told the European Parliament on Tuesday morning.
On military equipment, Rubio said Ukraine’s urgent appeals for more interceptors for Patriot air defense systems had to be balanced against U.S. needs — which are trying to restock thanks to the war against Iran— as well as the demands of other allies.
“I know one of the things that President Zelenskyy has been talking about is that he’s been trying to buy interceptors. And I understand. So does every other country in the world,” Rubio said. “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.”….
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US envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin on Wednesday after what a US official called “constructive” talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway. The US official said Ukraine brought forward new ideas and proposals to the Oslo talks, which also involved the leaders of Norway and Finland and European and Nato representatives, and that participants made “meaningful progress” toward a coordinated approach to engaging Russia.
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The official, who spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the talks covered “key elements of a comprehensive peace framework”, including security guarantees for Ukraine, a postwar economic plan and a broader European security architecture. Witkoff would aim to “create a pathway toward direct trilateral and broader multilateral negotiations”, the official said. US president Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Ukraine to make a deal to settle the war with Russia. “Ukraine has to want to settle this war,” Trump told reporters.
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Zelenskyy travelled to Oslo seeking to repair relations with Washington, which have sunk to new lows. Trump’s recent gestures toward Moscow, including a deal to buy Russian diesel and a waiver of new sanctions, have sparked bipartisan pushback in the US Congress and worry in European capitals. Zelenskyy said he had discussed “Article 5-like” security guarantees, referring to the Nato stipulation that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. “I am thankful to the American side that they underlined again that it will be strong,” he said.
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Elon Musk last week ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter. Musk, SpaceX and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Ukraine uses the service – known as Starshield – for battlefield communications and drone operations. Restricting the satellite service hampered the country’s attack and air defence drone missions against Russia.
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US defence secretary Pete Hegseth meanwhile insisted Tuesday that the Pentagon had not directed any changes to Starshield, saying: “We haven’t pulled anything back.” “Nothing’s changed from our view. We haven’t made any directives or anything like that,” he said. On Friday, Trump said he did not request any curbs to Starshield. “It wasn’t me. And I don’t think it was Elon,” Trump said. Musk previously said that “any limits on speed or usage” of Starshield systems were “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
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Nato said Tuesday it was deploying additional planes, drones and radar systems to the Black Sea after a string of attacks on ships near Romania and Bulgaria in the latest spillover from Russia’s war on Ukraine. “Allies have or will send additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, explosive exploitation teams, intelligence personnel, drones, and more to the Black Sea,” said Col Martin O’Donnell, a Nato spokesperson. “The most important thing we can do, however, is to increase our situational awareness in the region through increased sensors and data sharing,” he added.
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The Russian military struck three cargo vessels in Ukraine’s port of Reni and two other cargo vessels en route to Odesa, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday. Russian forces also hit two logistics hubs in the Volyn region and in the city of Khmelnitskiy, it said, adding that the vessels and hubs were all being used for military purposes. Russia also unleashed another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least nine people, officials said.
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The Kremlin said Tuesday that work was under way to ease the humanitarian situation in the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky in southern where residents have reported a worsening food crisis. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin had discussed the situation in Oleshky with Trump and told him that Russia’s human rights…
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ISW….Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 20, 2026
- Ukrainian forces continue facing in-motion speed restrictions to SpaceX’s low-earth orbit satellite communication technology (Starlink and Starshield) that limits Ukraine’s ability to counter Russian piston engine-driven and jet-powered strike drones.
- Ukrainian forces continue publishing further details about Ukraine’s Operation Vivaldi – a counteroffensive operation that fundamentally disrupted the Russian campaign for Donetsk Oblast by defeating the northern pincer that the Russian military intended to use to encircle the Fortress Belt from the north.
- Senior Kremlin officials reaffirmed Russian support for Iran and explicitly defined the United States as Russia’s long-term adversary, despite the recent unilateral US concession to Moscow – offering Russia a diesel export waiver.
- Former Commander of the Ukrainian 60th Ingulets Separate Mechanized Brigade Major Dmytro Rohozyuk became the acting commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps (AC) while Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi continues to command Ukraine’s Center Group of Forces (GoF) in Donetsk’s Fortress Belt.
- Russia launched 165 drones against Ukraine overnight.
- Ukrainian forces advanced east of Sumy City, and Russian forces advanced south of Orikhiv….
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Daily Kos Grunt Report for Today….
Lavrov Claims Peace Deal Would Mean End of Zelensky’s ‘Regime’
In brief: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Zelensky of repeatedly derailing peace negotiations, citing the Minsk process, Istanbul talks and trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi. He added Ukraine undermined US-backed diplomatic efforts and alleged that any agreement acceptable to Moscow and Washington would mean the end of Zelensky’s “regime” and “of him personally.”
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