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Dos rescatistas con cascos rojos frente a un edificio residencial destruido por un ataque aéreo, entre escombros, durante la noche en Zaporiyia
Miembros de los equipos de rescate frente a un edificio residencial dañado por un ataque aéreo ruso en Zaporiyia, el 17 de octubre de 2026. · Euronews

Rubio denies intelligence pause with Ukraine, urges focus on ending war

Marco Rubio denied that the United States suspended intelligence sharing with Ukraine, against Zelensky's account of a three-day pause now unblocked, while…

--- The context --- The exchange of intelligence information between the United States and Ukraine has become the center of a public dispute: Kyiv maintains that the flow was suspended for three days, while Washington denies that any pause existed and asks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to focus on ending the war with Russia, whose invasion is now entering its fifth year. --- The facts --- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied on Monday that there had been any suspension of intelligence information sharing with Ukraine. Rubio said there had been no pause when he was asked by reporters about Ukraine's claims that the United States had briefly interrupted the sending of information to help counter Russia's missile attacks. The Ukrainian leader explained on Sunday to US media that the measure had been unblocked by the American side after a three-day suspension, and said he was grateful that the United States had resumed the exchange after a pause that left the country more exposed to Russian missile attacks. Zelensky said in a television interview published on Sunday that the flow was blocked for a period of time, that it was then unblocked by the American side, that they were very grateful for that and that it now works, adding that only the United States has this unique intelligence to warn his country when Russia uses ballistic missiles and that they did not receive it during the ballistic missile attacks of those three days. In the past week, Kyiv also reported restrictions on satellite services operated by SpaceX, Elon Musk's company on which Ukraine depends for its battlefield communications, shortly after US President Donald Trump criticized Ukraine and urged it to stop attacking Russian oil refineries. Meanwhile, Ukraine is moving forward with its plans to develop European alternatives to US-made air defense systems and to Starlink satellite communications, with talks already under way and Kyiv expecting progress much sooner than skeptics foresee, according to a senior Ukrainian presidency official last week. --- The positions --- Rubio, who is in Uzbekistan for talks with Central Asian officials, said Trump wants Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to focus on ending the invasion. Rubio said that what Zelensky should focus on and what they wanted everyone to focus on was ending this war, adding that the president has made trying to end this war a priority. Trump, who says he has reached a deal with Russia to guarantee fuel exports in exchange for sanctions relief, wrote on Sunday on his social platform that he is making great progress in negotiating peace, but maintained that Zelensky does not want to end this war and that he is using Russian diesel refineries as a target, harming world diesel markets, including those of the United States. Zelensky said he believed the satellite restrictions were a message from the US Government to limit speed and that, technically, SpaceX did it; the Trump Administration has denied being behind any slowdown and a senior US official replied that Trump and Rubio have categorically said that nobody in the Administration did that and that it is very reckless of President Zelensky to make such an accusation, offering no alternative explanation. Musk, who has also been critical of Zelensky and has asked him to leave, said on Wednesday that any interruption Ukraine reported in the use of the Starshield satellite communications system would be the responsibility of the US Government. For his part, Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of Zelensky's office, said in an exclusive interview that Ukraine seeks to reduce its dependence on US capabilities and that it has already begun substantive talks with European countries on a European air defense system. --- What remains unknown --- What is missing is an explanation of what happened during the three days in which, according to Kyiv, the flow was blocked, of the origin of the reported satellite restrictions, for which no alternative explanation has been offered, and of the scope and timelines of the European alternatives under negotiation. --- Unanswered questions --- Was there or was there not a suspension of intelligence sharing for three days, as Kyiv maintains, or was there no pause at all, as Washington insists? Who ordered or caused the restrictions on the satellite services on which Ukraine depends on the battlefield? When could European air defense and satellite communications alternatives truly reduce Ukraine's dependence on the United States? --- EPM analysis --- The dispute is no longer only about a flow of data: it is about how much the defense of a country at war can depend on decisions taken outside its borders and not even publicly acknowledged in the same way. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, this episode leaves an uncomfortable lesson for Kyiv and for Europe: when early warning against ballistic missiles and front-line communications depend on a single provider and a single ally, any pause, acknowledged or not, becomes direct exposure for the population and the troops. Ukraine's search for European alternatives is not a gesture of rhetorical distrust but a necessity of survival, and whether Europe advances on them with the speed Kyiv expects will define whether the continent can sustain its own security when US support becomes uncertain or conditional.
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