US Treasury chief deflects on Ukraine alliance question: 'I'm not secretary of state'

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday (local time) called it "very irresponsible" for President Volodymyr Zelensky to suggest that disruptions to Ukraine's Starshield access were intentional on the part of the Trump administration.

Appearing on NBC, Bessent said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had "categorically stated that no one in the Trump administration did that."

The United States had been pressing Ukraine to halt strikes on Russian oil facilities, which Washington identified as a driver of surging diesel prices, but Kyiv refused to comply. Against that backdrop, reports emerged that the US had suspended military intelligence sharing with Ukraine, restricted Kyiv's access to the American Starlink system — essential for drone operations — and that these steps were deliberate decisions by the administration.

Tensions between the two countries have since spilled into the open. Trump suggested Zelensky should step down, and when Trump exempted countries from steep tariffs under the so-called Lindsey Graham Act — legislation that would have penalized nations buying Russian energy — just before it was set to take effect, Zelensky pushed back, calling the move a gift to Russia.

When the NBC host asked Bessent three times whether Ukraine is a US ally, he gave only evasive answers.

On the first question, Bessent said, "President Trump wants to end this war." When pressed again, he said, "We are providing three different things to Ukraine," adding, "That is what you do for allies. We are not providing those things to Russia."

The three things Bessent referred to are intelligence sharing, access to the Starshield system, and US-made weapons — including Patriot air defense missiles — resold through NATO.

When the host asked the same question a third time, Bessent replied, "I am not the secretary of state. I am not the president." The response was widely read as a signal that diplomatic relations with Ukraine fall outside his purview.

Bessent also rebuffed Zelensky's characterization of Trump's last-minute exemption from the Graham Act as a "reward for Russia," saying, "European countries have given more money to Russia and Vladimir Putin than they have given to Ukraine. They continue to greedily consume Russian energy."

"The United States imports $4 billion worth of Russian products. Of that, $1.8 billion is fertilizer. European countries are importing more than 10 times that amount," he said. He then shifted blame to Europe over Ukraine's battlefield needs, asking, "When President Zelensky requested Patriot missile systems, NATO's European members had plenty of Patriots. Why didn't they readily provide them?"

On the prospect of rising global oil prices amid a prolonged conflict with Iran, Bessent said, "It's a supply-side shock. We will get through this. We will get through the Iran conflict, and then those prices will come down."