U.S. Secretary of State Rubio Says He Lacks Confirmation on Kyiv's Lack of Missile Warning
During a press briefing in Uzbekistan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he could not verify Kyiv's claim that it received no advance warning before Russia's ballistic missile attack on Oct. 19.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, that he could not confirm Kyiv's statement that Ukraine had no advance warning of the Russian ballistic missile strikes on Oct. 19, citing insufficient information.
Rubio said, "I don't know. I mean, where did it happen last night? I don't know exactly," and added that a recent software issue affected Ukraine's early-warning system, noting that the U.S. European Command had provided a report on the matter but he could not comment further.
The attack, which unfolded in three waves at roughly 11 p.m., 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time, left at least one person dead and eight injured. President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X that Ukraine had not received early warnings from partner nations, including the United States, before the strikes, and said Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles targeting Kyiv and its surroundings.
Ukraine’s Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat later said the country received no warning before the first wave but was alerted before the second wave, a pattern he said had occurred in previous attacks such as the Oct. 14 strike.
U.S. officials have said the United States supplies Ukraine with intelligence to detect and track Russian missile launches. The timing of the attack came shortly after Zelensky announced that the United States had resumed intelligence sharing on Russian missile activity.