Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US has restored intelligence sharing with Ukraine, including advance warnings of Russian ballistic missile launches, following talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The lack of advance warnings came amid reports that the Trump administration had threatened to suspend intelligence sharing and weapons supplies unless Kyiv halted attacks on Russian oil refineries. US intelligence usually alerts Ukraine to ballistic missile launches before air raid sirens sound, giving the country time to warn civilians and prepare its air defenses. Russian ballistic missiles can reach Kyiv within minutes, making early notice critical to protecting lives.

Zelenskyy made the announcement on 20 October during a press conference broadcast by Suspilne. He said he had spoken with Rubio earlier that morning while traveling to Oslo, discussing intelligence, Starlink satellite communications, missile interceptors, and Patriot air defense systems.

“We discussed sensitive issues, including Starlink, interceptors, which are very important, and intelligence. We were very specific; the conversation was very positive,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that he plans to speak with Rubio again within the next 48 hours.

On 18 October, Zelenskyy also said that US warnings had returned, which turned out not to be true as Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv that evening before air raid sirens sounded.

Kyiv went days without advance warnings of Russian missiles

The warning gaps began with Russian ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv on 12 October and continued through 19 October. During the attacks on 12 and 13 October, Ukraine received no advance warning from its partners, with air raid alerts sounding only after the attacks had begun.

The problem persisted during subsequent attacks. Overnight on 18–19 October, Russia attacked Kyiv in two waves. Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said no warning arrived before the first wave, around 23:00. Information arrived before the second wave, around 03:00, but left little time to respond.

Advance intelligence on ballistic missile launches is particularly important because these missiles can reach their targets within minutes, leaving little time for civilians to seek shelter.

Washington denies suspending intelligence sharing

US President Donald Trump previously denied that Washington had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, despite the missing warnings. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also rejected claims of a suspension, pointing to a software problem in Ukraine's early-warning system. 

However, the disruptions came amid reports that the Trump administration had threatened to suspend intelligence sharing and weapons supplies unless Kyiv halted attacks on Russian oil refineries. The Financial Times reported that Washington was pressuring Ukraine to stop the strikes as part of efforts to secure an energy truce with Russia. 

Ukraine temporarily paused attacks on Russian refineries but said Moscow continued striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Zelenskyy's latest statement indicates that advance ballistic missile warnings are reaching Ukraine again, although the recent gaps have raised questions about the reliability of a capability critical to protecting civilians.

• Google is injecting more AI into the interview process.
• The company has been testing a new format that tests candidates on their AI fluency.
• The pilot has recently rolled out more broadly across Google, internal docs show.

AI is changing how Google employees work — and how Google hires them.

The company has been testing several AI-related changes to its hiring process for software engineers, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. These changes, which Google has been rolling out in phases throughout this year, include allowing the use of AI in coding interviews and permitting interviewers to use Gemini to give candidates feedback.

Many engineers are also now expected to show some degree of AI fluency as a bare minimum, the documents show.

In May, Business Insider reported that Google was piloting ways to integrate AI into the interview process with a small handful of orgs. This included a new "code comprehension" interview in which candidates are assessed on AI fluency and prompt engineering. Candidates can also use Google's Gemini AI as an assistant during the interview.

The new formats have since been rolled out more broadly across the company, according to the internal documents. However, a spokesperson said they were still considered to be in the pilot phase for now.

"We're piloting updates to our interview process for software engineers, including evaluating for AI fluency, to be more reflective of how our teams are operating," Brian Ong, vice president of recruiting at Google, told Business Insider in a statement.

Like other companies, Google is adapting its hiring process to keep pace with the huge transformation AI is having on software engineering. As developers increasingly rely on AI coding assistants, hiring companies want to know how competent they are with these tools.

In April, Google said that three-quarters of new code created at the company is generated by AI and reviewed by humans, a trend that has since continued across the tech industry. Google has said that its employees are increasingly using the company's own Gemini models to both improve other Google products and to build the next generation of Gemini.

The documents say that for some roles, including software engineering, AI fluency and AI product integration are now used as measures of a candidate's abilities. A Google spokesperson said that AI fluency is a requirement for all software engineering jobs, while AI product integration is required for most roles outside entry-level positions.

Google is also piloting the use of Gemini for interview transcription and note-taking in some job interviews conducted via the company's videoconferencing platform, Google Meet, one document shows.

Google wants to speed up the feedback process using AI, too. The same document states that Google is working to enable interviewers to use Gemini to draft role-tailored feedback.

As Google builds out this new interview system, employees were told they may be asked to participate in some of the pilots — but were warned against using AI tools to generate their own interviewing "solutions."

"Do not use GenAI or LLMs to create your own standalone solutions or agents for hiring or interviewing use cases," the document states, referring to large language models.

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