Trump withholds intelligence and Starshield from Ukraine after Putin call
Analysis published 17 October details how Washington paused intelligence sharing and blocked Ukraine's Starshield access following a two-hour Trump-Putin phone call, leaving Kyiv exposed as Russia intensified strikes.
RTÉ's 17 October analysis reports Ukraine's bruising week at the hands of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. After Ukraine's long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries, Washington withheld intelligence on incoming missile strikes and blocked access to the Starshield satellite system. Over the following ten days Russia killed more than 150 civilians, part of a 65% year-on-year rise in air attacks (3,900 strikes in September). The pivot came after a two-hour phone call initiated by the Kremlin in which, according to U.S. officials, Putin talked Trump out of his threat to send Tomahawk long-range missiles. At the Brussels EU summit the day before, Zelensky praised 'real leaders' in Europe as his relationship with Trump visibly deteriorated. Ukraine's finance minister Serhiy Marchenko warned Kyiv needs €70 billion to fund defence in 2027, of which €40 billion remains unfunded. Russia is reportedly also building a non-negotiable 'security zone' inside Ukrainian territory which Putin says will not be part of any future peace talks.
