US President Donald Trump has denied limiting Ukraine’s access to Starlink’s sister web community Starshield after it restricted drone velocity, hampering Kyiv’s potential to defend itself from Russian attacks.
“I wasn’t me and I don’t think it was [Starlink owner] Elon [Musk],” Trump said, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said velocity had yet to be restored.
Musk himself instructed the US authorities might have been behind the restrictions, while Reuters information company reported on Thursday that the order had come from inside the White House.
Ukraine was hit by several lethal strikes on Tuesday after the community slowdown.
Starlink is a civilian-use high-speed web community operated by Musk’s SpaceX. Starshield – which depends on Starlink- is its military-grade sister service that was designed for the Pentagon.
The US had beforehand warned it could withhold sharing intelligence, essential for Kyiv’s defences, if Ukraine did not stop hitting Russian oil refineries.
Tension has been brewing between Washington and Kyiv for days over a latest controversial diesel deal between Russia and the US.
Zelensky – angered by the deal – resumed focusing on Russian oil refineries this week in a transfer criticised by Trump after he announced a ceasefire on power infrastructure. Kyiv said it would only stop the strikes if Moscow did the same.
“If I don’t stand up to this… who else will?” Zelensky requested EU leaders at a summit on Friday.
Trump had also said that Zelensky was “more difficult to deal with than [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”.
But talking to reporters as he left the White House on Friday, the US president said he had a good relationship with his Ukrainian counterpart.
Asked about Starshield, he said he was “not sure” it “ever came down”.
Musk earlier defined that Starshield was managed by the US authorities, and that the Pentagon could have been accountable.
In its report about the alleged order regarding Starshield, Reuters quoted two US officers and a Western official briefed on the matter.
The US authorities has allowed Ukraine to use Starlink and Starshield in its defence against Russia. Musk cut Moscow’s access to the service in February, giving Kyiv an benefit in the battle.
On Tuesday night time, Starlink restricted velocity limits to 100mph (160km/h), which means any weapons that travelled quicker than that lost connectivity to the community.
Some 600,000 in Ukraine were left without energy as communications and power amenities used by Ukraine’s navy were also hit in the lethal attacks.
A bipartisan group of US senators has signed a letter demanding an investigation into the disruptions to the community.
“Restrictions reportedly degraded Ukraine’s ability to conduct defensive operations against Russian drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure,” the letter learn.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that EU states would not abandon Ukraine.
Speaking at the finish of the two-day summit in Brussels attended by Zelensky, Macron said it was Europe’s job to maintain the line in the face of some people’s “ambiguities”. That was apparently a reference to indicators of wavering US support for Ukraine.
Funding for Ukraine and serving to it get through another freezing winter – its fifth since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 – topped the summit’s agenda.
The conflict will price €155bn (£131bn; $174bn) next yr, Zelensky advised the European Council, with at least €70bn needed to come from the EU for defence and weapons.
Macron said Europe was working to help Ukraine with its satellite tv for pc and early warning systems, and Ukraine’s associates would look at its request for further assist.
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