US President Donald Trump has denied that he limited Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the military-grade sister service of Starlink, after the network restricted drone speeds. Kyiv said the restriction hampered its ability to protect itself from Russian attacks.
Trump said he did not think the move came from Starlink owner Elon Musk. He made the remarks hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the speed had not yet been restored.
Starlink speed limit and claims over who ordered it
On Tuesday night, Starlink capped speeds at 100mph (160km/h). Any weapons travelling faster than that lost their connection to the network. Ukraine was hit by several deadly strikes on Tuesday, after the slowdown took effect.
Starlink is a civilian high-speed internet network run by Musk’s SpaceX. Starshield relies on Starlink and was designed for the Pentagon. Musk suggested that the US government might have been behind the restrictions, saying Starshield was managed by Washington and that the Pentagon could have been responsible.
A Reuters report on Thursday said the order had come from inside the White House, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter. Asked about Starshield as he left the White House on Friday, Trump said he was “not sure” it had “ever came down”.
Washington and Kyiv at odds over oil refinery strikes
Tension between Washington and Kyiv has been building for days. The dispute centres on a recent diesel deal between Russia and the US that Zelensky reportedly found angering. The deal prompted Zelensky to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries this week.
Trump criticised those strikes after he had announced a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. Kyiv said it would only stop the strikes if Moscow did the same. The US had earlier warned that it could withhold intelligence crucial to Kyiv’s defences if Ukraine did not stop hitting the refineries.
Trump had also said that Zelensky was “more difficult to deal with than” Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, on Friday he said he had a good relationship with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Senators seek probe as Europe pledges continued support
A bipartisan group of US senators signed a letter demanding an investigation into the disruptions to the network. The letter said: “Restrictions reportedly degraded Ukraine’s ability to conduct defensive operations against Russian drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure.”
At a two-day summit in Brussels, attended by Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that EU states would not abandon Ukraine. He said it was Europe’s job to hold the line despite some people’s “ambiguities”, apparently a reference to signs of wavering US support.
Zelensky told the European Council that 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 its satellite and early warning systems. Funding for Ukraine and help getting through another freezing winter, its fifth since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, topped the summit’s agenda.
