President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Starlink and Starshield restrictions remain in place, disrupting drone operations, while delays in agreed US interceptor missile deliveries continue to further strain Ukraine’s defense ahead of winter.
Zelensky made the remarks in a speech at the Hudson Institute on Friday, Oct. 23, excerpts of which he shared in a statement on Telegram. Around the same time, US President Donald Trump claimed he had no idea who ordered Starlink limitations on Ukraine and that he heard “it’s fixed.”
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“[SpaceX CEO] Elon Musk is a very good person. He is not going to do anything wrong regarding Ukraine,” Trump claimed. “He is a fair person.”
The dispute over Ukraine’s satellite access has dragged on since Oct. 13-14, when Starlink’s operating parameters in Ukraine were first altered. Since then, the White House and Musk have each denied responsibility, while pointing to the other.
Musk claimed Starshield is controlled by the US military, including Trump himself, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted SpaceX, as a private company, makes Starlink’s operating decisions.
Despite constraints, Zelensky said Ukraine’s frontline is holding. The operations have so far been fairly successful, though the restrictions have made the fighting harder.
“This is a real problem, because the Russians attack us almost every day,” he continued.
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Zelensky hopes for the trilateral meeting
During his speech, Zelensky also said that he and his team had spoken with senior US envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, about the outcome of their recent meetings in Oslo and St. Petersburg earlier this week.
Steps on how to advance diplomacy next month were on the agenda as well.
“We are ready to meet any day, even tomorrow. But everything depends on the Russians,” Zelensky said, noting that a trilateral meeting had also been on the agenda in October, but fell through after Moscow “came up with yet another reason not to meet.”
So far, the Kremlin has rebuffed every proposal for a direct meeting with Ukrainian authorities, particularly with Zelensky himself.
Zelensky argued that progress remains unlikely without Washington’s direct involvement and pressure on the Kremlin, while urging the US to keep the issue a priority at all levels.
Ukraine’s goal, he said, remains to move beyond technical-level negotiations to a meeting of leaders, since the most important issues can only be settled through direct discussions.
The Kremlin, for its part, rejected an energy ceasefire with Kyiv, arguing that Moscow wants a broader peace agreement instead.
Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, Oct. 21, that a full settlement of the war would be impossible without the participation of Ukrainian officials, signaling a shift from Moscow’s earlier position.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin reportedly proposed a trilateral summit with his US and Chinese counterparts on Monday, Oct. 19 to discuss a settlement in Ukraine, excluding Kyiv from the meeting.
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