Kyiv Says It Got No Warning of Russian Ballistic Missiles During Grid Strikes That Have Killed Five

Ukraine says it flew blind against Russian ballistic missiles twice this week. The overnight assault on Kyiv and Kharkiv that left 600,000 people without power has now killed five and injured 36 in the capital, the latest toll for an attack that ran from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, Oct. 14.

Zelensky said the strike involved 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones, and damaged 26 power stations and substations supplying Kyiv. "No advance warning from our partners about the ballistic missile launches," he wrote on X. "This is the second time Ukraine has received no warning this week."

Warning gaps and a denial

Yurii Ihnat, the Ukrainian air force spokesman, said there was no warning of the first ballistic missile wave on Tuesday night. Kyiv was warned about three later waves.

Zelensky did not name which partners failed to warn Ukraine. He told NPR that U.S. intelligence is important for ballistic missile alerts, and that Kyiv received none over the previous two nights. He called that a technical glitch and declined to say whether Washington was withholding the data.

Trump flatly denied any cutoff at the White House on Tuesday. "We are helping them and we are sharing intel, we want the war to end," he said when asked if the U.S. had stopped providing intelligence.

A member of Ukraine's parliamentary Defense Committee, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the press, told the Associated Press that intelligence sharing has not stopped.

Zelensky has said Trump floated halting intelligence sharing until Ukraine stopped hitting Russian oil refineries. "Did we get any messages it can be stopped? Yes. My generals told me we have such risk," he told NPR.

The Starlink speed limit

On the battlefield side, Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelensky, said SpaceX imposed a speed limit overnight on Starlink terminals in motion. Terminals on the Starshield military package stop working above 100 mph, he wrote on Telegram.

"Our defense forces were not notified of this restriction, and it has resulted in the disruption of several missions," Beskrestnov wrote.

He said Ukraine uses Starlink in interceptor drones, which he called the most effective available means of stopping fast, jet-powered Russian Shahed drones. "With their actions, our partners are depriving us of one of the few chances we have to defend the country," he wrote. Slower-flying attack drones also became easier targets, and a source familiar with the matter told The Hill that some units reported problems at lower speeds too.

Beskrestnov said the move was "connected to the current political situation." He offered no evidence and did not say who might have requested it.

Serhii Sternenko, a former Ukrainian defense ministry adviser, wrote that SpaceX likely acted at the Trump administration's request. He noted that ordinary terminals were unaffected. That is his inference, and no one in the sources has confirmed it.

Neither SpaceX nor the White House has commented. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski publicly asked Elon Musk on X: "Are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you." Poland has said it pays for Ukraine's Starlink subscription. Musk had not responded as of the latest reporting.

Musk said in 2025 that Starlink would never be turned off or used as a bargaining chip.

The political backdrop

The timing sits against a rough week between Kyiv and Washington. Trump said Saturday it was time for Ukraine to get a new president. He blamed Zelensky for not doing enough to end the war and for high U.S. diesel prices. Trump also struck a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel, which has drawn bipartisan criticism in Congress.

Zelensky told NPR he learned of Trump's proposed energy ceasefire from the president's social media account. He told Fox News on Monday that Kyiv held off striking Russian energy sites after Trump's directive. Russia, he said, kept hitting Ukrainian gas stations and energy infrastructure anyway.

Trump's push to stop the fighting has produced no progress. Ukrainian officials say they fear U.S. support is slipping away.

Two questions remain unanswered. SpaceX has not said who ordered the speed limit, or whether it will be lifted. And no official has explained why the first ballistic wave on Tuesday night came without a warning, when the later three did.