Zelenskyy says US early warnings of Russian missile attacks are working again
Ukraine’s president says advance warnings have resumed after talks with US officials, but a US defence official has disputed claims of a change in intelligence-sharing policy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, 20 October, during a visit to Norway that Ukraine was again receiving US early warnings of Russian ballistic missile attacks after talks with American officials. The warnings give civilians notice of incoming missiles; his account of the system working again follows attacks for which he said Kyiv received no advance warning.
Zelenskyy spoke after meeting US envoy Steve Witkoff in Norway, The Guardian reported. He said he had also held a ‘positive’ call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Tuesday. The Associated Press reported that Zelenskyy linked the change in warnings to his talks with US counterparts, including Rubio.
‘Now it works. It’s great,’ Zelenskyy said of the advance warnings, according to The Guardian. He said they mattered to children and adults because they could hear when a ballistic missile was coming, and thanked the US for the warning service.
Warnings missed during earlier Russian attack
Earlier, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received no warning from its partners before the first wave of a Russian ballistic missile attack during the night of 18–19 October, Hindustan Times reported. He singled out American early warning of missile threats and said Washington had given Kyiv no clear explanation for the gap. The Associated Press also described recent Russian attacks that had come without enough notice.
Hindustan Times attributed to Bloomberg and Ukrainian officials a claim that the US had intermittently restricted intelligence sharing, with early warnings restored for a second wave of attacks. An unnamed senior US Department of Defense official told Bloomberg that Pentagon policy on sharing intelligence with Ukraine had not changed, according to Hindustan Times. The accounts leave the cause and timing of the missed warnings unresolved.
The Guardian described the advance warnings as having seemingly been suspended the previous week. Zelenskyy’s statement addresses whether Kyiv is receiving warnings now; it does not establish how consistently they are arriving. His account and the US official’s denial of a policy change describe different aspects of the service, and neither establishes what caused the earlier gap.
The update follows [Zelenskyy’s earlier account that Ukraine received no US warning before Russian strikes on Kyiv power plants].
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Sources and context
- US has resumed sharing intelligence with Ukraine about Russian strikes, says ZelenskyyThe Guardian
- ‘No warning before missile strikes’: Zelensky as Ukraine suspects US blocking intel on Russian attacksHindustan Times
- Ukraine getting early warnings about Russian missiles again, Zelensky saysAssociated Press (republished by South China Morning Post)
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.