Zelensky Says U.S. Restored Intelligence Sharing With Ukraine After Three-Day Blackout

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that the United States has restored intelligence sharing with Ukraine after a pause of about three days that left the country unable to see incoming Russian ballistic missile attacks.

“It was blocked for some period of time. And then it was de-blocked by the American side. We are very thankful for this. Now it works,” Zelensky told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in a prerecorded interview that aired Sunday.

Zelensky said Ukraine has dozens of countries helping it, but only the United States has the intelligence needed to tell Ukraine when Russia fires ballistic missiles. “We didn’t see attacks of Russia using ballistic missiles,” he said. “We didn’t get it during ballistic attacks during three days.”

A strained relationship

The pause came as the relationship between Zelensky and President Donald Trump has deteriorated over Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries. Trump last week called the refinery strikes a “disgrace.”

A week ago, Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, as the White House sought to ease pressure on oil and diesel prices before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Neither Kyiv nor Moscow acknowledged such an agreement. Ukraine briefly stopped hitting Russian energy targets but has since resumed the attacks, while Russia continued to strike Ukrainian energy facilities.

Ukrainian authorities said eleven people were killed and nearly 50 injured across Ukraine in Russian missile and drone attacks in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, including what they called a massive attack on energy facilities in the Odesa region.

“Since the American President announced the energy ceasefire a week ago, Russia has deliberately attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times,” Zelensky wrote on X on Sunday.

Sanctions waiver and Starlink

Trump has waived sanctions on imports of Russian diesel and on Friday invoked a waiver exempting Russia from sweeping economic penalties mandated by Congress, drawing criticism even from Republicans.

Zelensky told NBC the waiver strengthened Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine while Moscow was failing on the battlefield. He called it “more support for Russian aggression.”

The Ukrainian leader also said his military’s access to the Starlink system for guiding short-range and battlefield drones was still curtailed. “It was a message from the American government” to limit the speed of Ukrainian drones, Zelensky said. The Trump administration has denied that the service is restricted.

The claim follows a report earlier in the week that the White House had ordered a slowdown of Ukraine’s Starshield service.

Reporting based on coverage by CNN and the New York Post.