U.S. resumes intelligence sharing with Ukraine – Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the United States has resumed providing Ukraine with crucial intelligence information for protection against Russian missile strikes. He made this announcement on NBC's Meet the Press on October 18. According to Zelenskyy, the intelligence had been blocked for some time before being unblocked by the American side. He expressed gratitude for this development, stating that everything is functioning correctly now.

Zelenskyy was questioned about the duration of the intelligence blockage, which he confirmed was three days. He emphasized that Ukraine had received numerous warnings from its intelligence services, European allies, and other countries, but only the United States had this unique intelligence to warn them about Russian ballistic missile usage. He also mentioned that the US government had ordered restrictions on Starlink and Starshield systems, though he was unsure of who in the American administration made this decision.

These restrictions, though technically implemented by SpaceX, resulted in a maximum speed of 161 km/h for the system. Zelenskyy confirmed that the system's full functionality had not been fully restored. This came in the wake of US threats to halt intelligence sharing if Ukrainian forces attacked Russian energy facilities. President Zelenskyy had previously mentioned receiving such threats in an interview with NPR on October 14.

However, US President Donald Trump reportedly stated that intelligence sharing was still ongoing. The European Commission reported no signs of discontinued intelligence sharing between Ukraine and the US. Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had suggested to Trump limiting the bandwidth of Starlink and Starshield systems. On October 17, Zelenskyy reported testing the Starlink system in vehicles across EU countries, indicating no restrictions in the EU.