The Weapons and Intel That Only the U.S. Can Give to Ukraine
Despite having homegrown alternatives to U.S. military support, Ukraine has no substitute for some American intelligence and systems, such as Starlink
Oct. 15, 2026
Warnings by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and disruptions to SpaceX’s Starlink network have exposed how vulnerable Kyiv would be if the U.S. pulled the plug on all of its support, threatening everything from drone strikes to air defenses.
Ukrainian forces on Wednesday said their access to satellite communications had been throttled, slowing down their drones. And Zelensky said this week that Ukraine hadn’t received warnings from its partners that usually enable its air defenses to intercept Russian ballistic-missile launches.
President Trump has demanded that Ukraine stop hitting Russian oil refineries and called for Zelensky to step down, raising the prospect that the U.S. could cut off its backing for Kyiv in the war.
Ukraine has defied the odds by developing its own weapons to wean itself off U.S. help, and Europe has stepped up its financial and military support for Kyiv as Washington has pulled back. Overall, Ukraine is now much less beholden to America for its defense than when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. But there are still things that only the U.S. is equipped to provide.
“The remaining dependence is concentrated in a few critical areas,” said Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based military analyst and head of Gady Consulting who has spent long periods with Ukrainian forces.
Starlink
Starlink and its military version, Starshield, are unique in their satellite coverage, signal strength and transmission capabilities. Canada and European countries are developing systems that will have some of Starlink’s scale and potency, but not before 2028 at the earliest, people familiar with their rollout have said.
Degraded Starlink communications hobbled Kyiv’s ability to conduct midrange drone attacks and intercept Russia’s new-generation jet-powered drones beginning late Tuesday night, Ukrainian officials said.
One Ukrainian unit reported losing control of drones midflight as a result of the disruption, preventing them from destroying a Russian rocket arsenal.
Warnings of attack
America’s globe-spanning ballistic-missile early warning system, first developed in the Cold War, can detect heat from a rocket launch, which is then confirmed by a worldwide network of missile-tracking radars, said Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute, a military-focused think tank.
Intelligence from the system has allowed Ukrainian forces to target incoming missiles and warn the public of an attack. It “is close to irreplaceable,” said Gady.
Ukraine’s European allies provide satellite and other airborne intelligence, but it lacks the precision, scope and capabilities of that coming from the U.S. In terms of missile alerts, “Europe has nothing comparable and won’t for years,” said Gady.
It couldn’t be determined why Ukraine might not have received warnings about recent Russian attacks. Trump has said that the U.S. is still sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Some analysts suspected Russia might have conducted the launches so close to Ukraine that their heat signatures weren’t detectable in time.
Russia is also firing smaller tactical and more-mobile weapons that are harder to detect than strategic long-range missiles. “The U.S. ballistic-missile warning system was never designed for tactical use,” said Withington.
Interceptors
Ukraine has relied on the U.S. for advanced missile interceptors, particularly Patriot PAC-3 MSE rockets, to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles. But even before Trump renewed pressure on Ukraine over its strikes on Russian refineries, supplies of those interceptors had dwindled. U.S. stockpiles had been spent in the Middle East earlier this year defending against Iranian strikes on U.S. forces and allies there.
Meanwhile, Europe and Ukraine are offering alternatives. The makers of the French-Italian Samp/T say their latest version can tackle ballistic missiles. The system is already on its way to Ukraine. At least two Ukrainian companies are working on ballistic-missile interceptors with European peers, with the first expected to come into operation as early as the middle of next year. A British startup says it is set to produce its own.
Russian air-defense mapping
Ukrainian intelligence services have developed their own data on Russian infrastructure and military assets using a mix of allied intelligence, Ukrainian drones, human intelligence and other sources including hacked video cameras inside Russia.
But America has also helped Ukraine conduct strikes on Russian assets, say people familiar with the operations. U.S. technology and intelligence have helped Ukraine refine its data for strikes, including through precise information on the altitude of targets, according to a European military official.
One crucial capability: American surveillance can give a very detailed picture of Russian air defenses through the systems’ electromagnetic signatures, said Withington. Information on weak spots in Russia’s aerial defenses has helped Ukraine to guide drones and missiles to avoid interception, he said.
F-16 jet fighters and PURL
Ukraine has gathered a fleet of secondhand F-16 jet fighters, donated by European allies over recent years. Kyiv relies on the U.S. for spare parts, maintenance, software upgrades and arms for the U.S.-made aircraft.
A lot of the F-16 supplies are being paid for by Ukraine’s European allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, through a program called the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. Ukraine’s NATO allies and others, including Australia and New Zealand, have pledged more than $4 billion to PURL since it was launched last year.
A halt to PURL would deprive Ukraine of vital equipment, but Washington may be reluctant to back out of the program, given it is an export earner for U.S. defense companies.
Ukraine’s stocks of munitions for the F-16s also dried up several months ago, and pilots are reliant on the planes to shoot down the jet-powered drones currently pummeling Ukraine, air-defense officers in the country say.
Spare parts to fix the U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer must still get Washington’s sign off, even though they are made in the U.K.
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Appeared in the October 16, 2026, print edition as 'Ukraine Needs Arms, Intel Only U.S. Can Provide'.