Zelenskyy says no US warning before Russian strikes on Kyiv power plants
Ukraine's leader says partners gave no alert before a missile barrage that hit energy sites in 11 regions, while Washington denies any pause in intelligence sharing.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force said Ukraine had not been warned before a Russian missile barrage hit power plants in Kyiv at around 11pm on Sunday 18 October, The Guardian reported. Earlier, a Ukrainian government official had told the Guardian the US had not warned the capital about the impending missile strike.
The missing warning comes amid a public quarrel between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump over intelligence sharing, and as US officials deny any pause.
Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Monday morning that Russia attacked in multiple waves overnight and that there was once again no warning from Ukraine's partners. Air Force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat said Ukraine did receive a warning before a subsequent strike at 3am.
Zelenskyy said Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles in what he called a deliberate attack on Kyiv and the Kyiv region, alongside more than 200 drones, including jet-powered Shahed drones. He said Russian strikes hit energy facilities in 11 regions: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Kharkiv, Ternopil, Odesa and Rivne.
He added that more than 10 energy infrastructure facilities were damaged and at least 550,000 families lost power. Local authorities said the attack killed one person and injured eight others in Kyiv, and damaged residential buildings, a medical facility, a school and a metro station.
Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and 269 drones, and that Ukrainian air defences destroyed or suppressed 243 drones and four missiles. The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces carried out a "massive strike" on targets in Kyiv and Ukraine's capital region.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that intelligence sharing with Ukraine had been paused. "There has been no pause," he told reporters. Speaking to NBC in Uzbekistan, Rubio questioned where Zelenskyy was getting his information and again denied any pause.
Rubio said he did not know exactly what had happened overnight and referred to an earlier software problem in Ukraine's early warning system. The Guardian noted that US officials had not previously mentioned a software glitch in the early warning system. Rubio said the US military's European Command was looking into the strikes.
Zelenskyy told US media that a suspension of intelligence support had been "deblocked by the American side" after three days, according to RTÉ. For years, the US had warned Ukraine before Russian ballistic missile launches, giving several minutes to sound alarms and reach shelters, The Guardian reported. Ukraine has said it was not warned on at least three days in the past week before missiles were launched.
Rubio said Zelenskyy and Russia should focus on ending the war rather than on the intelligence dispute. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Zelenskyy does not want to end the war. The Trump administration has denied throttling Starlink services in Ukraine, The Guardian reported.
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Sources and context
- US gave us no warning of Russian strikes on Kyiv power plants, Zelenskyy saysThe Guardian
- ‘No early warning’: Zelenskyy says allies failed to alert Kyiv before Russian strikes; Rubio says US intel sharing never pausedThe Times of India
- Zelensky says no early warning of latest Russian strikesRTÉ
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.