Zelenskyy says US intelligence sharing has resumed after pause
Ukraine’s president says the interruption left his country without US warnings during three days of Russian ballistic missile attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday, 18 October, that the United States had resumed intelligence sharing with Ukraine after a pause that he said left it without US warnings during three days of Russian ballistic missile attacks. The warnings matter to Ukraine’s defence against the strikes, but Zelenskyy did not say when the pause began or precisely when sharing resumed.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Zelenskyy said the intelligence had been ‘blocked for some period of time’ before the American side restored it. ‘We are very thankful for this. Now it works,’ he said. His account of the interruption and its duration has not been independently established in the two reports.
Why the missile warnings matter to Ukraine
Zelenskyy said the United States has intelligence that can alert Ukraine when Russia uses ballistic missiles. He said Ukraine did not receive those alerts during ballistic attacks over three days. The Guardian reported that Russian strikes have hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches, placing the interruption in the context of an ongoing threat to the country’s power supply.
The Guardian also reported that two people were killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange strikes on power infrastructure. It did not connect those casualties to the three days when Zelenskyy said US intelligence was unavailable. The cause of the intelligence-sharing pause was not established in either account.
Zelenskyy’s separate Starlink allegation
In the same NBC interview, Zelenskyy alleged that the US government had sent a message by limiting the speed of SpaceX satellite service used in Ukraine. He said SpaceX had carried out the technical restriction. The Guardian reported that the slowdown hampered drone operations at the front and some air defence missions. Zelenskyy’s allegation of US direction remains disputed.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected that allegation in a separate interview on Meet the Press. He said President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had denied that anyone in the administration was behind the restriction, and called Zelenskyy’s accusation ‘reckless’. Bessent did not offer an alternative explanation for the reported disruption.
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Sources and context
- Zelenskyy tells NBC 'thankful' US has unblocked intelligence sharingChannel NewsAsia (AFP report; source footer credits AFP/fs)
- Zelenskyy thanks Trump for resumed intelligence sharing after US Starlink ‘message’The Guardian (Andrew Roth in Kyiv and Sam Jones; footer says Reuters, AP and AFP contributed)
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.