Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “be very careful” after Zelensky said U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine was temporarily interrupted during Russian ballistic missile attacks. The unusually sharp exchange unfolded in separate interviews on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, amid an escalating public dispute between Zelensky and President Donald Trump’s administration over U.S. support for Ukraine and Trump’s approach to Russia. Zelensky told moderator Kristen Welker that U.S. intelligence sharing “was blocked for some period of time” before being restored.
Now it works,” Zelensky said. But he said the interruption left Ukraine without U.S. intelligence during three days of Russian ballistic missile attacks. Ukraine received intelligence from European countries and other partners during the interruption, he added, but “only United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles.” Bessent, interviewed separately by Welker, strongly challenged the suggestion that the Trump administration was responsible for the disruption.
The dispute centers on intelligence capabilities that remain particularly important to Ukraine as other forms of American support have declined. Ukraine relies on U.S. intelligence for warnings of incoming Russian missile attacks. European allies can provide some intelligence, but U.S. capabilities remain particularly important for detecting ballistic and cruise missile launches.
Reports of disruptions had already emerged before Sunday's interviews. Ukrainian officials said earlier in the week that Kyiv had received no advance warning from its partners for two waves of missile attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to The New York Times. The newspaper said it was unclear why Ukraine did not receive the warnings, noting that the missiles may have been S-400s, which can leave little time for advance warning.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Zelensky learned while traveling from Kyiv to Poland that Russian missiles had struck Kyiv without the usual U.S. launch warning for the second consecutive day. The newspaper also reported that Ukrainian officials said senior U.S. military leaders had previously warned their counterparts that intelligence cooperation was at risk if Ukraine continued strikes against Russian oil refineries. U.S. officials denied making such a threat and said intelligence sharing was continuing.
Zelensky's comments Sunday went further by publicly stating that intelligence sharing had actually been blocked before subsequently being restored. It remains unclear what caused the interruption. Bessent rejected the suggestion that anyone in the Trump administration ordered it, but said he did not know what had caused the disruption.
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