Rubio made the remark while answering questions from RFE/RL correspondent Alex Raufoglu during a visit to Uzbekistan. He said US European Command is examining what happened and will provide a report afterward.
He declined to comment on information that Ukraine did not receive a warning about the Russian missile attack on the night of October 19.
Raufoglu had earlier reported, citing Ukrainian sources, that Kyiv received no warning of the impending strike. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the information that morning, saying Russia struck in "several waves" overnight and that "again there was no warning from partners."
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat specified that there were two waves of missile strikes on October 19. No warning from international partners came during the first, while such information was available during the second.
According to Zelensky, the Russian attacks targeted energy and infrastructure, but a medical clinic, a school, a metro station and residential buildings were also damaged. "In total, the Russians used 16 ballistic missiles, and this was a deliberate attack against Kyiv and the Kyiv region. More than two hundred drones of various types were also used, including jet-powered Shaheds," he wrote.
Over that night alone, the Ukrainian president noted, more than 10 energy infrastructure facilities were damaged and at least 550,000 households were left without power. The equipment and infrastructure of the Datagroup data center failed completely and its operation cannot be restored, the company said.
Commenting on Zelensky's remarks about a pause in the sharing of intelligence data, Rubio said he did not know where Zelensky was getting that information. He said there was no pause and that Zelensky should focus on ending the war. "We want the Russians to be focused on this as well," the secretary of state said.
Zelensky said the previous day that the United States had resumed sharing intelligence with Ukraine. He confirmed that Kyiv had not received information from partners about the missile launches at Kyiv. Rubio also said Ukraine does not have access to the military version of Starlink, Starshield. "They asked for access in order to carry out deep strikes on Russian territory," he said.
The accounts diverge: Rubio maintains there was no pause in intelligence sharing and that the issue was a software glitch, while Zelensky had earlier stated that the transfer of some intelligence data was suspended. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ihnat confirmed the absence of a warning before the first wave of strikes, whereas Rubio declined to comment on the events of the night of October 19, citing a glitch "several days ago."