U.S. Treasury Secretary Evades Question Three Times: "Is Ukraine an Ally?"... "War Must End Through Negotiations"

Appears on NBC
Gives vague answers to host's questions

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeatedly avoided giving a clear answer when asked whether Ukraine is an ally of the United States, doing so three times. As tensions between the United States and Ukraine escalate over the sharing of military intelligence and restrictions on Starlink services, he also stressed that the war must end through negotiations.

On the 18th (local time), Bessent appeared on an NBC news program and avoided directly answering whether he considered Ukraine an ally of the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on the 7th (local time). Washington, D.C. (U.S.) = AP-Yonhap.

When the host repeated the question, Bessent said, "We are providing Ukraine with three different things. Those are things we do for an ally. We don't provide them to Russia."

The three forms of support he cited were the sharing of military intelligence, support for Starshield, Starlink's military service, and permission for NATO to buy U.S.-made weapons and resell them to Ukraine.

However, when the host asked for a third time whether Ukraine was an ally, Bessent replied, "I am not the secretary of state. I am not the president."

He also expressed disagreement with President Zelensky over how to end the war. Earlier, responding to remarks by Zelensky in an interview suggesting that Ukraine must win, he criticized the Ukrainian president, saying, "President Zelensky presented a false choice this morning, saying that Ukraine must win."

He continued, "President Trump wants to end this war and has made clear that the fighting must stop. The war must end, and that will happen through a negotiated settlement in some form." He added, "President Trump is working toward that every day."

The United States and Ukraine have recently been at odds over an energy-related ceasefire with Russia. Over the weekend, President Trump announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop attacking energy facilities. Ukraine suspended attacks on Russian energy facilities for several days, but then resumed strikes on oil refineries, saying that Russia had failed to honor the agreement.

Ukraine has also claimed that the United States halted the sharing of military intelligence about Russian attacks, which it had previously provided, and restricted the speed of Starlink services used by Ukrainian forces to track and defend against drones.

In response, Bessent said, "President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have categorically stated that no one in the Trump Administration did that. I think it is very reckless of President Zelensky to make such claims."

He also criticized European countries for being reluctant to support Ukraine. Bessent said, "When President Zelensky requested Patriot missile systems, NATO's European members had plenty of Patriots," adding, "Why aren't they readily providing them?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.