KYIV — Ukrainian officials say American intelligence tells them where and when Russia launches its ballistic missiles. On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Trump administration has warned it could cut that supply unless Ukrainian forces stop their long-range drone strikes on oil refineries inside Russia.
Zelenskyy gave the account in an interview with NPR in Kyiv. Asked the same day whether the United States had stopped sharing intelligence, Trump told reporters: “We are helping them and we are sharing intel, we want the war to end.”
The warning is not only Zelenskyy’s claim. A European official and a Ukrainian official told CBS News that the administration also threatened to halt European purchases of U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine through the PURL system if the deep strikes continue. The Ukrainian official said Kyiv is taking the threats very seriously, because intelligence sharing shows where and when Russia launches ballistic missiles and PURL is the only way Ukraine can buy Patriot missiles. CBS said it had asked the White House for comment.
The dispute follows Trump’s demand last week that Kyiv stop hitting refineries and his decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel. Zelenskyy rejected the premise that Ukraine is behind high fuel prices, saying the cause is “blocking the Strait of Hormuz.” The sanctions relief would not lower U.S. prices, he said, because “the volume is not enough,” and it would give the Kremlin more money for the war. Diesel averages $6.27 a gallon in the United States, according to AAA.
Ukraine’s strikes do matter to Russia’s economy, if not decisively. The International Energy Agency says Russian refining is at a 20-year low and diesel output has fallen 30 percent this year, CBS reported, while an analyst at Eurasia Group called the attacks “an inconvenience and an inflationary pressure” that are not putting Russia “on the verge of collapse.”
The “energy ceasefire” Trump announced Sunday has not changed the picture. Zelenskyy told NPR he learned of it “through social like you.” Russia struck a power plant within hours and hit six more energy facilities by Monday afternoon, CBS reported. Trump said there have been “violations on both sides,” and Zelenskyy wrote that “pressure on Russia is needed.”
After the interview, Zelenskyy posted that Russia had launched a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, targeting a power plant. “Once again, no early warning from our partners,” he wrote. “It is important that the United States really see what is happening and who is responsible for this war continuing.”
In the remarks NPR quoted, Zelenskyy did not link the missing warning to the American threat, and the coverage reviewed does not establish why it did not come.
