Rubio says Ukraine targeted US-linked ships, infrastructure

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the Ukrainian military targeted U.S.-linked ships and infrastructure several times in recent months.

“The one thing we are concerned about, however, is that over the last few months on a number of occasions American-linked ships, American oil supplies, have been targeted — probably not deliberately — but targeted nonetheless by Ukraine,” Rubio, who also serves as President Trump’s national security adviser, said during his appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“So that’s something that needs to be addressed. We can’t have that happen,” he continued. “That’s why the president has wanted to end this war.”

The Pentagon did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment. The State Department declined to comment.

Rubio did not disclose any details about the attacks.

In late July, Vice President Vance asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop striking oil tankers using the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) terminal in the Russian port city of Novorossiysk, The Financial Times (FT) reported .

The port has a terminal for a pipeline that carries crude oil from Kazakhstan.

The U.S. was “alarmed” that the strikes were further destabilizing oil markets and Ukraine agreed not to go after non-Russian ships that are not under Kyiv’s sanctions or target CPC infrastructure, according to FT.

Rubio’s remarks came hours before Zelensky and Trump are set to meet at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. The Ukrainian leader met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe at an airport in Ireland on Monday, The Hill reported .

The secretary of state’s remarks also come as Zelensky has repeatedly asked the U.S. to provide Patriot interceptor missiles to help Ukraine defend against Russia’s massive missile attacks on the Eastern European country.

Earlier this year, Trump said the U.S. would allow Ukraine to co-produce Patriot missiles.

The president has called for the Russia-Ukraine war to end and on Monday acknowledged that Kyiv’s military strikes have hit Russian energy infrastructure hard, arguing Russia has lost control of its diesel oil industry.