Politics & Diplomacy
Zelensky: The US has resumed giving intelligence on Russian ballistic missiles – “For three days we received nothing”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told NBC’s Meet the Press that the United States has resumed giving Ukraine information on Russian ballistic missile launches after a pause of about three days, while the Starshield speed limit remains in force.
The United States has resumed giving Ukraine information on Russian ballistic missile launches, after an interruption of about three days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said so in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” broadcast on Sunday, October 18. “Only the United States has this unique information, to inform our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles. We were not receiving it during ballistic attacks for three days,” he said. “We are very grateful for this. Now it works,” he added.
According to NBC, Zelensky described the information flow as briefly “blocked”, leaving Ukraine “blind” against ballistic missiles, while limits were also placed on Starlink technology, which is critical for shooting down jet drones. The Ukrainian president said Kyiv believes SpaceX’s decision to limit the speed came after a “message from the US government”. The restriction on Starshield, the military version of Starlink, remains in force. Already on October 16 he had written that when the speed was cut, Ukraine could not shoot down some Shahed jets.
The restoration comes after the Russian attack of October 12 on Kyiv, when five S-400 missiles struck the capital and the sirens sounded only after the explosions. Zelensky had also warned of Russian plans to deploy ballistic missiles in Belarus for strikes on western Ukraine.
“A historic mistake”
In the same interview, the Ukrainian president said it would be a “historic mistake” if the US sided with Putin. “If these two countries are together, we will not prevail and we will not be able to hold out,” he said. Of Donald Trump he said: “We want to trust him. I hope he will change his decisions, because I think they are all mistakes.” Responding to Trump’s remark that he is a harder negotiating partner than Putin, he said it is “better to have partners who are very open and clear, than those who are killers, even with a smile on their face.” The interview was given two days after the Trump administration froze new sanctions against Russia.
Later on Sunday, Zelensky announced that he had spoken with the envoys of the American president, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “Peace comes only through strength and cooperation built on trust,” he wrote. Zelensky said talks with the US could take place next week. There has been no official US statement on the interruption or the restoration of the information flow.
