The United States has resumed providing Ukraine with critical intelligence to help defend against Russian missile strikes after a brief pause, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in comments published on Sunday.
Ukraine has relied on American intelligence to spot the fast-moving ballistic missiles Russia has fired in waves at its cities.
Speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press” in a prerecorded interview that aired Sunday, Zelenskyy said intelligence-sharing had been interrupted but later “de-blocked.”
“It was blocked for some period of time. And then it was de-blocked by the American side. We are very thankful for this,” he said. “Now it works.”
Zelenskyy said the roughly three-day blackout left Ukraine unable to see incoming Russian ballistic-missile attacks.
“We didn’t see attacks of Russia using ballistic missiles,” he said. “We have dozens of countries who help. But only United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles. And we didn’t get it during ballistic attacks during three days.”
U.S. President Donald Trump had said earlier this week that Washington was still sharing intelligence, despite Ukrainian officials saying some Russian strikes had occurred without warning, Reuters reported. CBS News reported that American officials attributed the missing warnings to a missile-detection failure caused by bad weather, an explanation the Ukrainian side questioned.
Ukraine strikes back at Russian energy sites
In a separate development, Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia this year, defying Trump’s pressure to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, CNN reported on Sunday.
People watched a burning oil terminal in Saint Petersburg following an air attack on October 18, CNN reported, citing AFP images.
Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday that since Trump announced an energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia had “deliberately attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times.”
Eleven people were killed and nearly 50 injured across Ukraine in Russian missile and drone attacks in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, according to Ukrainian authorities cited by CNN, including what they called a massive attack on energy facilities in the Odesa region.
The feud between Kyiv and Washington over Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure has intensified. Trump has blamed those attacks for contributing to higher diesel prices, a sensitive issue ahead of the midterm elections, and on Friday invoked a waiver exempting Russia from sweeping economic penalties mandated by Congress, CNN reported.
Zelenskyy has also said Ukraine’s military access to SpaceX’s Starlink system remains restricted for its drones, telling NBC that the system shuts down once a drone passes 161 kilometers per hour. The Trump administration denies ordering any slowdown.
Developing story: the situation is evolving and details may change as more information becomes available.
Sources: Reuters; CNN; New York Post; NBC News; CBS News.
