Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Bessent described the Ukrainian president’s remarks as “reckless.”
“President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have categorically stated that no one in the Trump administration did anything of the sort. I think it is very reckless of President Zelensky to make such accusations,” Bessent said.
“I don’t know anything about it, but Zelensky should be very careful”
Host Kristen Welker pressed Bessent on the reported slowdown and disruption of the Starlink network, referring to Zelensky’s claims that Washington had temporarily suspended the sharing of critical intelligence with Kyiv.
“Again, I don’t know anything about that, but we have been very clear. President Zelenskyy should be very careful about making statements like that that are not true,” Bessent replied.
❗️Journalist Welker: President Zelensky also said there was a break in intelligence sharing as well. US Treasury Secretary Bessent: President Zelensky should be very careful about making statements like this that aren’t true. https://t.co/PMDXC1O63r — 🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 (@front_ukrainian) October 18, 2026
Zelensky: Order to restrict the signal came from the U.S. Government
In an interview aired shortly before Bessent’s appearance, Zelensky said that Kyiv believed the order to restrict the satellite signal had come directly from Washington.
“The message to restrict Starlink speeds in Ukraine came from the U.S. government. I don’t know exactly who issued it or which office it came from, but this is not just my opinion. It is the assessment of our generals and our government, as well as my personal conviction, that the U.S. government sent the message to limit our speeds,” Zelensky said.
Trump: “I didn’t do it”
On Friday, Donald Trump rejected claims that he or SpaceX owner Elon Musk had caused the satellite network outage.
“I didn’t do it. No, we didn’t do that at all. In fact, from what I understand, I don’t think the internet was slowed down at all. I checked on it this morning. I had only heard about it through the media. We didn’t slow it down, and I believe everything is working normally,” Trump told reporters.
Satellite connectivity is blocked at speeds exceeding 160 km/h.
Ukraine reported a service disruption last Wednesday, stating that its military had temporarily lost access to the military version of the Starlink satellite system, which is critical for communications along the front line.
Sources familiar with the situation say Starlink has been configured with a software restriction that automatically cuts off the signal to any object travelling at speeds exceeding 160 kilometres per hour. This directly affected Ukrainian aircraft, helicopters and fast-moving drones used to intercept Russian aerial attacks, prompting Ukrainian officials to openly raise suspicions of possible sabotage by political figures in Washington.
