@jolyonWitkoff is heading into a fresh round of peace talks with Ukraine and EU leaders, then on to Russia, and that trip lands alongside a call meant to cool things down between Washington and Kyiv. Sec. Rubio got Zelensky on the line to say plainly that Trump never gave an order aimed at deliberately hurting Kyiv, and to knock down the notion of any political directive holding back U.S. intel sharing or weapons sales. Ukrainian suspicions that Washington was leaning on Kyiv to give ground to Moscow, per Rubio, don't hold up. He did allow that some Patriot interceptor shipments might slip, the reason being the U.S. has to keep enough in reserve for its own bases around the world. Axios, Samuel.

@jolyonWitkoff is heading into a fresh round of peace talks with Ukraine and EU leaders, then on to Russia, and that trip lands alongside a call meant to cool things down between Washington and Kyiv. Sec. Rubio got Zelensky on the line to say plainly that Trump never gave an order aimed at deliberately hurting Kyiv, and to knock down the notion of any political directive holding back U.S. intel sharing or weapons sales. Ukrainian suspicions that Washington was leaning on Kyiv to give ground to Moscow, per Rubio, don't hold up. He did allow that some Patriot interceptor shipments might slip, the reason being the U.S. has to keep enough in reserve for its own bases around the world. Axios, Samuel.