Zelensky Says Partners Failed to Warn Kyiv of Russian Ballistic Attack

Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukraine’s partners provided no advance warning before five Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv.

Sirens sounded on Monday night after five explosions had rocked the capital. Zelensky said the missiles struck civilian infrastructure.

“Unfortunately, we received no early warning from our partners about this strike,” he said.

The Ukrainian president named no country and did not attribute the missed warning to Washington’s recent threats to suspend intelligence support.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials said that cooperation remained in place.

Kyiv Investigates Warning Failure

Ukraine’s Air Force identified the weapons as Iskander-type ballistic missiles launched from Russia’s Bryansk region, northeast of Ukraine.

Their speed and the relatively short distance to Ukrainian targets can leave little time for alerts. In some cases, missiles reach their targets before warnings sound.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha told the Warsaw Security Forum that Kyiv continued to receive U.S. intelligence. He attributed the delayed warning to the weapons Russia deployed.

“And also it is true that in yesterday night’s attack there was a delay, but it is because of the special type of weaponry that was used by the Russian side,” he said.

Two senior Ukrainian officials said they were investigating the incident.

One described a malfunction in an early-warning system that had previously given Kyiv reliable notice of Russian aerial attacks.

Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said missiles had arrived ahead of intelligence alerts on earlier occasions.

Information shared by the U.S. and other NATO countries covers ballistic launches, Russian military aircraft activity and naval movements, he said.

Ihnat said Ukraine would work with its partners to address gaps in that information.

U.S. Pressure Over Refinery Strikes

The missed warning followed a weekend of U.S. pressure on Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil refineries.

American officials threatened to suspend intelligence sharing and halt the procurement mechanism through which Ukraine receives U.S. weapons.

Trump denied on Wednesday that Washington had stopped supplying intelligence.

“No, we haven’t. We help them,” he said. “We are helping them, we are sharing intel. We want the war to end.”

Ukraine also receives intelligence from France, the U.K. and other partners.

The absence of a warning alone does not establish that Washington withheld information or that wider intelligence cooperation was disrupted.

Trump has blamed Ukrainian refinery attacks for higher diesel prices. Analysts cited in the account attributed much of the increase to the U.S. war with Iran.

The U.S. president has also suggested replacing Zelensky as his frustration over the strikes has grown.

Energy Ceasefire Disputed

Trump announced on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure.

Zelensky said he discovered the announcement on social media and would suspend strikes if Moscow reciprocated.

On Tuesday, Zelensky said Ukraine had refrained from targeting Russian refineries and other energy assets for two days.

He accused Russia of continuing attacks on Ukrainian energy and critical infrastructure.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov did not address Trump’s announcement on Monday.

He said discussions with Washington were continuing and that Moscow would pause attacks for one day to enable Ukrainian elections.