U.S. restores intelligence sharing with Ukraine after pause, Zelenskyy says
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said U.S. intelligence on incoming Russian ballistic missiles is flowing again after a multiday interruption, adding a new turn to his dispute with President Donald Trump over Ukraine policy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on October 18 that the United States has restored intelligence sharing about incoming Russian ballistic missiles after a multiday interruption. The reported resumption is a concrete change in a tense period between Kyiv and President Donald Trump’s administration, although Washington has not publicly explained who ordered the pause or why.
“We are very thankful for this,” Zelenskyy said in an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “Now it works.” He described the channel as having been “deblocked” after Ukraine temporarily lost access to warnings that help its forces and civilians prepare for missile attacks.
Reuters separately reported Zelenskyy’s announcement Sunday. The accounts establish that Ukraine’s president says the flow has resumed; neither report cited an on-record White House confirmation of the restoration. That distinction matters because Trump said on October 13 that the United States had not stopped intelligence sharing, while Zelenskyy now says an interruption occurred afterward.
A reversal amid mounting U.S.-Ukraine friction
The intelligence issue is separate from, but unfolding alongside, restrictions on military satellite communications used by Ukraine. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian officials believed limits involving SpaceX’s Starlink technology followed a message from the U.S. government. Trump denied on October 16 that he ordered those restrictions, and the administration has not publicly supplied a detailed account reconciling the competing statements.
NBC News reported that European and Ukrainian officials previously viewed the intelligence limitation as an effort to push Kyiv toward concessions in stalled peace negotiations. That is their assessment, not a publicly stated White House rationale. The scope of the restored information, any conditions attached to it and whether all earlier capabilities are again available remain unclear.
Zelenskyy’s confirmation reduces one immediate operational risk for Ukraine. Intelligence about ballistic-missile launches can provide limited but critical warning time. A restoration does not, however, resolve the broader dispute over U.S. support, sanctions or the terms Washington wants Kyiv and Moscow to consider.
Zelenskyy criticizes Trump’s Russia policy but calls him an ally
In the same NBC interview, Zelenskyy warned that the United States formally siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake.” He nevertheless said he still viewed Trump as an ally and wanted to trust him, while expressing hope that the president would change recent decisions.
One of those decisions was Trump’s October 16 waiver of sanctions and tariffs directed at Russia and buyers of Russian energy. Trump’s executive order said the waiver was in the U.S. national interest. Zelenskyy argued that the move strengthened Putin, while Republican Sen. James Lankford told NBC that Trump was balancing pressure on Moscow with an effort to ease fuel costs for Americans.
The restoration therefore signals tactical continuity in one area of U.S. support without settling the strategic disagreement. Trump has said he wants negotiations to end the war; Zelenskyy maintains that Russia’s demands amount to capitulation and that weakening pressure on Moscow makes a settlement less likely.
What remains unresolved
The White House has not publicly said when the intelligence was interrupted, which agency implemented the change or whether Trump personally approved it. No public statement has specified whether the restored sharing is permanent. Those unanswered questions limit how far the development can be read as a broader policy reversal.
Zelenskyy said he expected to speak with U.S. negotiators later Sunday and remained open to further talks despite the strain. For now, the narrow operational update is clear from Kyiv’s account: the missile-warning intelligence that had stopped is working again. The political dispute over Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine remains active.
Sources and image credit
Reporting: NBC News, including Zelenskyy’s Meet the Press interview; Reuters.
Image: Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump at a joint press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on December 28, 2025. Official White House photograph by Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons and the White House Flickr account; public domain. Cropped to 16:9 and resized to 1600×900 with no text added. The image predates the reported intelligence interruption.