Ukraine left without US warning again before Russian ballistic strike on Kyiv, reports say
Photo: Kyiv attacked with ballistic missiles (Getty Images)
On the morning of October 19, Russia launched a ballistic missile strike on Kyiv, and Ukraine once again received no early warning of the attack. Previously, such warnings had come from the US as part of an intelligence-sharing arrangement, journalist Alex Raufoglu wrote on X.
“There was again no early warning about the ballistic attack on Kyiv just now,” the journalist quoted his sources as saying.
In the morning, a red alert was declared in the capital due to the missile threat. The Air Force warned of cruise missiles coming from the north of the Kyiv region, after which explosions were heard in the city.
The Ukrainian military had received early warnings about ballistic missile launches from the US. These warnings provide a few precious minutes for people to take cover and for air defense forces to prepare.
For two nights in a row, on October 12 and 13, ballistic missiles were fired at Kyiv without warnings from partners, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated. The Air Force later clarified that there was no warning only before the first wave of the attack.
According to The Washington Post, US intelligence warned the Ukrainian embassy that data sharing would be halted if Ukraine continued to strike Russian oil refineries. Despite this, Ukraine resumed the strikes. In an interview with Bloomberg, Zelenskyy stated that Washington’s actions appear to be an attempt to pressure Ukraine into surrender.
