OMM Newsroom
US President Donald Trump has denied restricting Ukraine’s access to “Starshield”, a military-grade satellite internet service, after limits on its connection speed hampered Kyiv’s ability to defend against Russian attacks.
“I wasn’t me and I don’t think it was [“Starlink” owner] Elon [Musk],” Trump told reporters on Friday, according to the BBC. His comments came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the speed had yet to be restored.
Musk suggested the US government might have been behind the restrictions. Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter, that the order came from inside the White House.
Ukraine was hit by several deadly strikes on Tuesday after the network slowdown. On Tuesday night, “Starlink” imposed a speed limit of 100mph (160km/h), causing weapons travelling faster than that to lose connectivity.
“Starlink” is a civilian high-speed internet network operated by Musk’s “SpaceX”. “Starshield”, which relies on “Starlink”, is a military-grade service designed for the Pentagon.
The US has allowed Ukraine to use both networks in its defence against Russia. Musk cut Moscow’s access to the service in February, giving Kyiv an advantage in the conflict.
Communications and energy facilities used by Ukraine’s military were also hit in Tuesday’s attacks, leaving about 600,000 people without power. A bipartisan group of US senators has called for an investigation into the network disruptions, saying they reportedly degraded Ukraine’s ability to defend civilian infrastructure from Russian drone and missile attacks.
The US had previously warned it could withhold intelligence-sharing, which is crucial to Kyiv’s defence, if Ukraine did not stop attacking Russian oil refineries.
Tensions between Washington and Kyiv have grown in recent days over a controversial diesel deal between Russia and the US. Zelensky, angered by the deal, resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries this week. Trump criticised the strikes after announcing a ceasefire on energy infrastructure; Kyiv said it would stop only if Moscow did the same.
“If I don’t stand up to this... who else will?” Zelensky asked EU leaders at a summit on Friday. Trump had also described Zelensky as “more difficult to deal with than [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Friday, Trump said he had a good relationship with Zelensky. Asked about “Starshield”, he said he was “not sure” the service had “ever come down”.
Musk had earlier said “Starshield” was managed by the US government and that the Pentagon could have been responsible for the restrictions.
At the end of a two-day summit in Brussels attended by Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged that EU states would not abandon Ukraine. He said Europe had a responsibility to hold the line amid what he called some people’s “ambiguities”, apparently referring to signs of wavering US support.
Funding for Ukraine and assistance to help it through another freezing winter—its fifth since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022—were at the top of the summit’s agenda.
Zelensky told the European Council the war would cost €155bn (£131bn; $174bn) next year, with at least €70bn needed from the EU for defence and weapons. Macron said Europe was working to help Ukraine with satellite and early-warning systems, and that Kyiv’s allies would consider its request for further aid.
