WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump did not request a reduction in Starshield services for Ukraine, a US official said on Friday, after tech billionaire Elon Musk insisted that any limits on the communications system would ultimately have been decided by the president.
Kyiv reported restrictions to the SpaceX-operated service on Wednesday, which it considers crucial to defending against Moscow’s invasion, shortly after Trump criticised Ukraine and urged it to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.
“No such request was ever made by the president,” the US official said on condition of anonymity when asked whether the order had come from the White House.
Musk has said that “any limits on speed or usage” of his company’s Starshield systems were “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”, referring to Trump.
Ukraine uses Starshield, Starlink’s military-grade satellite service, for battlefield communications, medium-range strikes on Russian-occupied territory and interceptor drones.
It also uses SpaceX’s parallel civilian satellite system, Starlink.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that the service was being restored, adding that “my partners told me that the administration and the White House sent a message to SpaceX asking them” to do so.
Relations between Washington and Kyiv have grown increasingly tense in recent days, with Trump calling for Zelensky to be replaced after the Ukrainian leader criticised a US deal allowing more Russian diesel to enter global markets.