Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Col. Yurii Ihnat said partner information reached Kyiv officials only before the second of two ballistic strikes on Kyiv overnight Oct. 18-19, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported power cuts across Ukraine.
Ukrainska Pravda reported that Ihnat described the chronology in a televised interview. He placed the strikes at about 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET Oct. 18 (20:00 UTC Oct. 18 and 00:00 UTC Oct. 19). Kyiv's district administration recorded public missile alerts shortly before each attack. Those city alerts were separate from the partner information Ihnat discussed.
Zelenskyy said Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region. He said more than 10 energy facilities across Ukraine were damaged and at least 550,000 families lost electricity. Repair crews were working at affected sites, he said.
The Ukrainian Air Force’s preliminary morning assessment counted 269 drones launched by Russia. Ukrainian defenses had destroyed or suppressed 243 drones and four cruise missiles, the report said. It also recorded strikes at 25 locations and falling debris at eight more.
Kyiv's district administration said a 21-year-old woman was killed. It also reported damage to a metro station, nearby rails and a medical center.
Two days before the attacks, Zelenskyy asked European leaders to help Ukraine secure more Patriot interceptors for ballistic missile defense, the Ukrainian presidency said. Ukrainska Pravda also reported Ihnat recalled an earlier major attack when partner warning information was delayed at first.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he could not explain what happened with the warning that night. He mentioned a software problem from several nights earlier but did not connect it to the first-strike gap. Rubio also denied that the United States had paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, a dispute covered in earlier EconoTimes reporting.
Ihnat said Ukrainian and partner specialists were reviewing the circumstances around the missing partner warning before the first strike.
