After Rubio call, Zelenskyy says missile warnings have resumed

Rubio denies intelligence-sharing and weapons-supply policy changes as Patriot ammunition stays short

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, during a visit to Norway, that Ukraine was once again receiving early warnings from partners about incoming Russian missiles. The change followed recent strikes that Zelenskyy said occurred without enough notice, leaving civilians vulnerable, and he said Ukraine could once again hear when a ballistic missile was coming.

Zelenskyy said, “We are thankful that intelligence works now, and I’m speaking about early warning, which is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming.” He added, “So we are thankful to American side now that it works.”

For at least a week, Zelenskyy had said Ukraine had not received early warnings about ballistic missiles aimed at the capital. He said the intelligence allowed authorities to alert the public and gave military units time to try to intercept missiles. Zelenskyy said the change happened after talks with American counterparts, including a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio, who arrived Tuesday in India on an official trip, denied that the United States was withholding assistance from Ukraine. Speaking to reporters in India, he acknowledged mutual frustration between the United States and Ukraine over intelligence sharing and weapons supplies but denied that the Trump administration had changed previous policy on either issue. Rubio said, “Nothing has changed.” He also said, “There has not been some deliberate political directive to go out and harm Ukraine.” The Patriot ammunition Ukraine needed was in short supply and was also required elsewhere in the world, Rubio said.

On Monday, Zelenskyy told a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers that he believed “some political decision has been made to slow down … support for us.” He said Ukraine had nearly run out of American-made Patriot air-defense interceptors needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles and asked Washington to send more. Zelenskyy also said the Pentagon was delaying the delivery of missiles other countries had purchased for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said speed restrictions remained in place on Ukraine’s use of Starshield, the military-grade version of U.S. company SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink. He said the restrictions were hampering battlefield operations. Zelenskyy described his conversation with Rubio as “a substantive conversation” and wrote on social media, “I am grateful for his readiness to help and his clear position.”

Russia launched another missile and drone blitz across civilian areas of Ukraine, killing at least nine people, officials said, as Zelenskyy sought more American and European help. Regional police said four people were killed and 27 others were wounded in the Kyiv region over the previous day, including children. Three people were killed and six were wounded in the Obukhiv district, where warehouses were damaged. In the Bucha district, one woman was killed and 21 people were wounded, including eight children, while hundreds of buildings were damaged, police said.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said three people were killed and four injured on Tuesday morning when two vehicles caught fire in a Russian attack on the Kyiv-Odesa highway. The dead included the driver of a shuttle bus that was hit. The bus transported people from Kyiv to the National Military Memorial Cemetery. Authorities also said two people were killed on Tuesday in a Russian attack on warehouses on the outskirts of Dnipro in central Ukraine.

National grid operator Ukrenergo reported power outages in 12 regions of Ukraine following the attacks. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces carried out drone strikes on logistics centers, port infrastructure and three cargo ships in the port of Reni in the Odesa region. The ministry also said another bulk carrier was hit at sea on its way to Odesa and that air defenses intercepted 136 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions overnight.

In Norway’s capital, Zelenskyy was joined by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end the war. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also met with the Ukrainian president in Oslo. Gahr Støre said Witkoff planned to fly to St. Petersburg on Wednesday to meet with Russian leaders, exchange ideas from the Oslo meeting and share proposals from European and American colleagues.

Stubb said, “Today was a good day for peace.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was willing to listen to new U.S. proposals about Ukraine but did not expect any “miracle” from Washington.

At the White House, President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on Zelenskyy to reach an agreement with Russia as relations between the two men had soured again. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “We want Zelenskyy to make a deal.” He said, “We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.” Trump said that if no agreement was reached, “I think it’s going to be a very bad thing.” He also had waived sanctions on Russia, a move Zelenskyy said helped Vladimir Putin push on with Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which was due to mark five years in February.

The Associated Press report described European countries as “worried about Russia’s plans on the continent” and said they viewed Ukraine as “a bulwark against Moscow’s ambitions.” It said European countries were trying to take up the slack of any falloff in U.S. supplies, although some key assets were American-made. European countries and European Union institutions had allocated 237 billion euros ($266 billion) to support Ukraine, compared with 115 billion euros ($129 billion) from the United States, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned on Tuesday whether U.S. negotiators had been honest brokers in peace efforts. Kallas said, “Although American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into surrender for … one and a half years now,” Ukraine has not surrendered on Putin’s terms “because Europe has been supporting Ukraine.” Ukrainian officials separately said the Trump administration had encouraged Kyiv to surrender land to Russia in return for peace.

The earlier report, Zelenskyy flags intelligence gap after unwarned Kyiv missile strike, documented the missing advance warning before a Kyiv strike. Zelenskyy’s statement that warnings have resumed identifies what changed after talks with U.S. counterparts; Rubio denied any change in policy on intelligence sharing or weapons supplies, while Zelenskyy said Ukraine remained short on Patriot interceptors and still faced Starshield speed restrictions.