Ukraine’s Air Force Command (AFC) stated shortly after midnight on Oct. 13 that they received no intelligence from their allies regarding up to six Russian ballistic missiles fired at Kiev, as reported by The New Voice of Ukraine (NVU). AFC’s spokesman Yury Ignat stated: “No information regarding launches from enemy territory had been received. The underlying causes are being established.” He told Rada television that specialists would work with Western partners to resolve the matter. NVU reported that defense officials confirmed that their air defense networks had no time to issue an advance siren alert because there was no “advance launch telemetry received from monitoring platforms.”
Ballistic missile launches generate heat that is easily detectable from space. U.S. defense satellites have provided Ukraine with vital real-time intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launch preparations.
It has been widely reported for several days that Trump warned Ukraine and European allies that the U.S. may restrict critical intelligence. Early reactions out of Kiev played this down. Ignat raised possible “technical issues,” adding that such things have happened in the past, as reported by TASS. Presidential advisor Serhii Beskrestnov said that the sensors and detection satellites of a Western partner had previously failed. He emphasized a complex situation in which panic was premature.
In the morning, Zelensky made comments not inconsistent with the interpretation that the absence of intelligence data was intentional. He posted: “There was also a particularly vile ballistic strike on Kyiv—five missiles that hit civilian infrastructure.” (That is Zelensky’s identification of 4-story warehouse and a municipal transport infrastructure facility, both empty of personnel.) “Regarding this strike, unfortunately, there was no warning from partners…. [D]irect or indirect support for Russia, delaying aid to Ukraine, and complicating protection of lives from ballistics—this is what will definitely not work for peace.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation posted on Telegram that it was clarifying the reasons for the disruption in the transmission of intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launches amid various theories circulating online. Of note, the CCD did not declare an early result, and it noted that one possibility was that the transfer of intelligence to Ukraine had been suspended. The Ukrainian news outlet Strana noted that there had been no official information confirming that the United States might have stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
Trump, asked about whether the U.S. was still sharing intelligence with Ukraine, said
When asked whether Washington had stopped sharing intelligence with Kiev, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia demurred: “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
