According to sources at several media outlets, American officials have told their Ukrainian counterparts that alerts from the American Starlink communications network failed due to "bad weather."
Ukrainian officials, in turn, have said they did not believe the explanation and accused the US of "gaming the system."
Unfair dealing
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went so far as to call the lack of information about Russian attacks on Tuesday night and morning "completely unfair."
He says Ukraine received no early warning when Russia attacked Kyiv and several other cities early Tuesday morning.
“Unfortunately, there was no warning from our partners,” Zelenskyy wrote on X later that afternoon.
The Ukrainian president further commented on the situation during a visit to London:
He says he “counts on” the US partnership despite “certain difficulties.”
No change in guidelines
US officials say they have not changed their intelligence-sharing guidelines with Ukraine, an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, AFP reports that Ukrainian drones have lost some of their combat capability after restrictions were imposed on the country's Starlink communication terminals.
Starlink is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, who responded to the criticism on Wednesday evening.
Musk points out that the military part of the system, called Starshield, is owned and controlled by the United States.
"Any limit on speed or usage is set by the US military and ultimately by POTUS," Musk says, using the abbreviation for the US president.
Musk also distinguished between Starshield and Starlink. The former is the system used by the Ukrainian military and is separate from the civilian Starlink satellite system.
Starlink is also used by Ukraine, but may not be used in offensive military operations, AFP reports.
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