US may have held back from warning Ukraine about Russian strikes that killed 6 and cut power to 600,000, sources say

The United States may have intentionally withheld its early warnings this week. Russian strikes in Ukraineseveral sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine “received no advance warning from its partners” when Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles on kyiv and other locations on Tuesday.

The sources said U.S. officials told their Ukrainian counterparts that the system used to detect Russian missile launches had failed due to “bad weather.” Ukrainian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, told CBS News they did not believe the excuse and blamed the United States instead for “gaming” the system.

When Russia launched a new wave of ballistic missiles on Wednesday around 3 a.m. local time, the sources said the US early warning system appeared to be working again.

The sources said the United States failed to provide intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launches in a previous instance earlier this year, citing a need to focus more resources on the Middle East.

Zelensky said Wednesday that Russia launched more than 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones and stray munitions during the nighttime attack, mainly targeting energy and critical infrastructure in kyiv and Kharkiv, killing six people and leaving about 600,000 people without power.

Asked Tuesday whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, President Trump replied: “No, we haven’t. We’re helping them, but we’re really helping them find a final answer. We want the war to end.”

“We’re helping them and we’re sharing information. We want the war to end, so we’re working with them and with Russia to end the war,” Mr. Trump said.

Russia began launching strikes shortly after Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine agreed to an “energy ceasefire”.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration threat to stop sharing intelligence and halt the purchase of U.S.-made weapons by European allies for Ukraine through the PURL procurement system if Ukraine does not stop deep strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, a European and Ukrainian official told CBS News.

Ukraine relies on U.S. intelligence for its offensive and defensive military capabilities, including data from satellites and aircraft sensors used to identify Russian aircraft and missile launches. Sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine as a whole – calling the lack of warning about this week’s attacks a specific incident.

Ukrainian officials and soldiers also told CBS News that the Ukrainian military began experiencing difficulties Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning with Starlink, the satellite technology owned by SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

In an interview with CBS News earlier this year, Ukrainian journalist former Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov said Starlink was one of Ukraine’s most important technologies because it allows Ukrainian soldiers to communicate and carry out strikes in environments saturated with electronic warfare.

“On the night of October 14, without warning the defense forces, SpaceX unilaterally restricted the operation of Starshield (“military package”) terminals when they were in motion. This complicates the missions of drones, especially interceptors and mid-strike drones, and reduces the capabilities of front-line logistics, reconnaissance and signal relay,” Ukrainian Defense Ministry sources told CBS News. “At present, the Ministry of Defense is in contact with partners from the United States, SpaceX and NATO, collecting data from all units and backup communication channels are being tested and put into operation.”

The Starlink restrictions were first reported by the Kyiv Independent and the Financial Times. CBS News has reached out to SpaceX, the White House and the Pentagon for comment.

On Wednesday, as President Zelensky arrived in the United Kingdom to meet with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and other officials, he called for a U.S. response to recent Russian strikes.

“The strike was absolutely deliberate and indicative of its scale – such demonstrative disrespect by Russia towards America has never happened before. Russia does not consider the US president’s statements to be strong,” he wrote on