Ukraine Again Receiving Early Warnings of Russian Missiles, Zelenskyy Thanks the United States
Ukraine is once again receiving early warnings from its partners about incoming Russian missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. On Tuesday he said the system had resumed after recent strikes that he said occurred without enough notice, leaving civilians vulnerable.
For at least a week, the Ukrainian leader had been saying that his country was not receiving early warnings about ballistic missiles aimed at the capital. Such intelligence, he said, saves lives by allowing the public to be alerted and giving military units time to try to intercept the missiles.
Zelenskyy said the change happened after talks with his American counterparts, including a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He gave the information during a visit to Norway.
'We are thankful that intelligence works now, and I'm speaking about early warning, which is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming,' Zelenskyy said. 'So we are thankful to American side now that it works,' he added.
Speaking to reporters in India, Rubio acknowledged mutual frustration between the US and Ukraine over intelligence sharing and weapons supplies. But he emphatically denied that the Trump administration has made any changes to previous policy on either issue.
In other developments, Russia unleashed another missile and drone blitz of civilian areas in Ukraine, killing at least nine people, officials said, as Zelenskyy sought more American and European help.
Zelenskyy was joined in Norway by US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine towards a settlement to end the war. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also met with the Ukrainian president in Norway's capital.
Gahr Støre said Witkoff planned to fly to St Petersburg on Wednesday to meet Russian leaders, exchange ideas from the Oslo meeting and share proposals from European and American colleagues.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is willing to listen to new US proposals about Ukraine but does not expect any 'miracle' from Washington.
At the White House, President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Zelenskyy to come to an agreement with Russia as relations between the two men have soured again. 'We want Zelenskyy to make a deal,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'We've given a lot to Ukraine. We've gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.' If that does not happen, he said, 'I think it's going to be a very bad thing.'
The conversation with Rubio came after Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Monday that he believes 'some political decision has been made to slow down... support for us.'
Ukraine has nearly run out of American-made Patriot air-defence interceptors that it needs to stop Russian ballistic missiles, according to Zelenskyy, who has pleaded for Washington to send more. But he said the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of missiles that other countries have purchased for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader also said speed restrictions were still in place on his country's use of Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX's satellite internet service Starlink, hampering battlefield operations. He also slammed Trump's waiving of sanctions on Russia as helping Putin push on with Moscow's full-scale invasion, which will hit the five-year mark in February.
Zelenskyy said he had 'a substantive conversation' with Rubio. 'I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position,' he said. The return of early warnings may ease one immediate concern, but the questions over weapons supplies and pressure for a settlement remain exactly as they were.
