
Zelenskyy thanks Trump for resumed intelligence sharing after US Starlink âÂÂmessageâÂÂ
Two people killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine continue to trade strikes on power infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday thanked the Trump administration for resuming intelligence sharing between the two countries, but maintained the US had intentionally throttled its Starlink satellite internet access so that Donald Trump could send a âÂÂmessageâ in his ongoing feud with the Ukrainian president.
In an interview on NBC, Zelenskyy said the US had âÂÂunblockedâ intelligence on impending Russian ballistic missile strikes, which have pounded the countryâÂÂs energy infrastructure as winter draws in.
âÂÂIt was blocked for some period of time. And then it was deblocked by the American side. We are very thankful for this. Now it works,â Zelensky told NBCâÂÂs Meet the Press. âÂÂOnly [the] United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles. And we didnâÂÂt get it during ballistic attacks during three days.âÂÂ
Zelenskyy also said that Elon MuskâÂÂs SpaceX was responsible for suddenly limiting the speed at which Starlink terminals worked in Ukraine, hampering drone operations on the frontlines as well as some air defence missions.
âÂÂIt was a message from American government to limit the speed,â he said. âÂÂAnd technically, SpaceX did it.âÂÂ
Two people were killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine continued to trade strikes on each otherâÂÂs power infrastructure, after the breakdown of TrumpâÂÂs short-lived and unilaterally declared âÂÂenergy ceasefireâÂÂ.

Trump has increasingly sought a detente with Moscow, inking a deal to import diesel fuel from Russia and waiving sanctions voted for overwhelmingly by both houses of Congress. Zelenskyy has become increasingly critical of TrumpâÂÂs actions as the US has piled pressure on Ukraine to cease striking refineries in Russia and end the war quickly on PutinâÂÂs terms.
âÂÂWe want to trust him and I hope that he will change his decisions,â Zelenskyy said of Trump. âÂÂBecause I think that itâÂÂs all mistakes and it will not help us. And it will not help [the] United States.âÂÂ
Zelenskyy on Sunday said that he had spoken with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the two Trump envoys charged with ending the war in Ukraine, as part of UkraineâÂÂs âÂÂvirtually nonstop communicationâ with the Trump administration.
But the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in a separate interview on NBC on Sunday said that Zelenskyy had been âÂÂrecklessâ to accuse the Trump administration of standing behind the throttling of Starlink.
âÂÂPresident Trump and Secretary Rubio have categorically said that no one in the Trump administration did that,â said Bessent. âÂÂAnd I think it is very reckless for President Zelenskyy to make such a charge.âÂÂ
He added: âÂÂPresident Zelenskyy should be very careful about making statements like this that arenâÂÂt true.âÂÂ
Ukraine has resumed striking refineries in Russia and on Sunday attacked one of the countryâÂÂs main oil terminals.
One person was killed and 15 wounded overnight after Ukraine used more than 1,000 drones to target Russian oil depots, logistics facilities and datacentres in one of its largest ever aerial bombardments.

St PetersburgâÂÂs governor, Alexander Beglov, said on Sunday that fires â had broken out overnight at the cityâÂÂs oil terminal, âÂÂan oil depot and industrial âÂÂwarehouses. A logistics centre belonging to the Russian retailer Ozon and a datacentre for the local tech company VK were also targeted, both companies confirmed.
Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region that surrounds St Petersburg, said 145 drones had been shot down and about 20,000 people were without electricity after the raid. âÂÂA large-scale [unmanned aerial vehicle] attack continues to be repelled,â he wrote on Telegram.
Fears that the conflict could be spilling over into NatoâÂÂs borders were stoked again on Sunday morning after Lithuania told residents in central and â northern parts of the country to seek shelter for about an hour after an unidentified flying object entered its â airspace.
During the red alert, Nato fighter jets were âÂÂscrambled to the area, and Kaunas airport, near LithuaniaâÂÂs second largest city, was temporarily closed, the national crisis management centre said.
The Nato aircraft were unable to visually identify the object due to cloudy weather and did not attempt to shoot it down, the centre said.
UkraineâÂÂs foreign ministry later said â it regretted the possible diversion of its â drones into â Lithuanian airspace âÂÂon Sunday, which it said may â have been caused by Russian electronic warfare.
âÂÂWe apologise for any âÂÂdisruption, risks and concern this may have caused,â a spokesperson, âÂÂHeorhii Tykhyi, wrote on X. âÂÂWe are committed to â sharing all relevant information with âÂÂour âÂÂLithuanian partners to âÂÂestablish the full circumstances âÂÂof âÂÂthe incident.âÂÂ

Meanwhile, local officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia said Russian strikes had killed a woman and wounded at least two other people, including a six-year-old girl. Two apartment buildings, 18 cars and an educational institution had been damaged by the attack, according to Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration.
Tensions are deepening between Kyiv and Washington, with the US president criticising Ukraine for its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, despite continued Russian aggression.
Trump announced an âÂÂenergy ceasefireâ last week â which neither side said they agreed to beforehand â that quickly collapsed as Moscow continued its strikes on UkraineâÂÂs power grid and Kyiv eventually resumed its hits on Russian oil refineries.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defence units had downed 1,015 Ukrainian drones around the country overnight. The Tass news agency quoted the âÂÂKremlin âÂÂspokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, who said Russia was responding with systematic, large-scale â strikes.
âÂÂThe Kyiv âÂÂregime is resisting, but this cannot âÂÂchange the course âÂÂof events,â he âÂÂsaid, âÂÂanswering a question about how Russia might respond to KyivâÂÂs attack on St Petersburg.
On Saturday, Russia said it had carried out a major overnight attack, targeting UkraineâÂÂs largest steelworks in the city of Kryvyi Rih and â vessels using the port of Odesa. In a âÂÂstatement, RussiaâÂÂs defence ministry said its forces had also hit an electricity substation in the north-western city of Zhytomyr and another steel âÂÂplant in Zaporizhzhia.

In the Trump administrationâÂÂs latest effort to reduce tensions with Russia, the US president announced on Friday that he would put a hold on a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause on the legislation passed by both chambers was in the national interest.
Trump has yet to give details about what he has decided regarding further sanctions on Russia.
âÂÂWeâÂÂll figure it out, and youâÂÂll figure it out,â he told reporters at a fundraising dinner at his Florida estate on Saturday. âÂÂBut itâÂÂs a very good decision, and itâÂÂs going to be a decision thatâÂÂs good for the country, and I think good for the world.âÂÂ
In a post on X on Sunday, Zelenskyy said in the week since TrumpâÂÂs announcement of an energy ceasefire Russia had attacked UkraineâÂÂs energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times.
He also said that the previous night alone, energy facilities in four Ukrainian regions had been attacked and tens of thousands of families were still without power. He accused Russia of trying to cause a blackout.
âÂÂAmerica should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,â he said. âÂÂOn the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting.âÂÂ
Zelenskyy also stressed that the war was continuing due to RussiaâÂÂs invasion â not because Ukraine was defending itself. âÂÂIt is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance. Thank you to everyone who understands this and helps,â he said.
Ukrainian drones have repeatedly entered Nato airspace in the âÂÂBaltic region in âÂÂrecent months. Kyiv âÂÂhas said they âÂÂwere steered off course by Russian signal jamming. Such incidents have stoked concerns that RussiaâÂÂs war in Ukraine could spread.
Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
