U.S. may have withheld warnings to Ukraine on deadly Kyiv strikes

The U.S. may have intentionally withheld early warnings this week of Russian strikes on Ukraine , multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine "received no advance warning from our partners" when Russia launched a ballistic missile barrage at Kyiv and other locations early Tuesday.

The sources said American officials told their Ukrainian counterparts the system used to detect Russian missile launches had failed due to "bad weather." Ukrainian officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, told CBS News they did not believe the excuse, and they accused the U.S. instead of "playing" with the system.

When Russia launched another wave of ballistic missiles around 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the sources said the U.S. early warning system appeared to be working again.

The sources said the U.S. had failed to provide intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launches during one previous instance earlier this year, citing the need to focus more resources on the Middle East.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Russia launched more than 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones and loitering munitions during the overnight attack, primarily targeting energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv and Kharkiv, killing six people and leaving some 600,000 without power.

President Trump, asked Tuesday if the U.S. had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, said: "No, we haven't. We help them, but we're really helping them get to a final answer. We want the war ended."

"We are helping them, and we are sharing intel. We want the war to end, so we're working with them and with Russia on getting the war to end," Mr. Trump said.

Russia started launching strikes soon after Mr. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire."

Earlier this week, the Trump administration threatened to stop sharing intelligence and to halt the purchase of U.S.-made weapons by European allies for Ukraine via the PURL procurement system if Ukraine did not stop deep strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, a European and a Ukrainian official told CBS News.

Ukraine relies on U.S. intelligence for both offensive and defensive military capabilities, including data from satellites and aircraft sensors used to identify launches of Russian aircraft and missiles. Sources familiar with the matter told CBS News the U.S.