WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “thankful” that the United States has resumed intelligence sharing after a pause had left his country more vulnerable to Russian missile strikes.
“It was blocked for some period of time. And then it was deblocked by the American side. We are very thankful for this. Now it works,” Zelenskyy told NBC’s Meet the Press in an interview published on Sunday (Oct 18).
“Only (the) 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,” Zelenskyy added.
In the past week, Kyiv also reported restrictions on satellite services operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which Ukraine relies on for battlefield communications, shortly after US President Donald Trump criticised Ukraine and urged it to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.
Zelenskyy said he believed “it was a message from American government to limit the speed. And technically, SpaceX did it”.
The Trump administration has denied it was behind any slowdown, and Zelenskyy’s remark drew a quick rebuke from a top US official.
“President (Donald) Trump and Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio have categorically said that no one in the Trump administration did that. And I think it is very reckless for President Zelenskyy to make such a charge,” Bessent told NBC in a separate interview aired on the same show on Sunday.
Bessent did not provide an alternative explanation.
