Who cut Ukraine's Starshield access, disrupting drone defense? New report points to White House
Trump has publicly denied imposing limits on Ukraine’s access to Starshield.
Image by Bloomberg via Gettyimages.
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- Reuters reported that instructions to slow Ukraine’s Starshield service came from inside the White House.
- Trump and a senior US official denied that the president ordered the restrictions.
- Ukraine says the speed cap disrupted drone missions and air defense against Russian attacks on Kyiv.
- A Ukrainian adviser said Kyiv is discussing the speed cap with SpaceX and the Pentagon.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The order to restrict Ukraine’s use of Starshield, SpaceX’s military-grade Starlink system, came directly from inside the White House, according to a new report by Reuters.
Two US officials and a Western official told Reuters that the Defense Department had received instructions to slow down SpaceX's Starshield service for the Ukrainian military.
They didn’t specify who in the White House made the decision or implemented the order, but a senior US official told Bloomberg on Thursday that President Donald Trump had not personally ordered any restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starshield.
In response to a request for comment, a US official denied Trump's involvement to Reuters: "No such request was ever made by the president." However, they didn’t respond to questions as to whether anyone else in the White House could’ve made the request.
Restrictions disrupt Ukrainian air defense operations
The restrictions disrupted Ukrainian drone strike missions and its air defense operations that stop Russian drones from bombing Kyiv.
Ukraine uses Starlink to guide many of its mid-range attack drones, which is a critical offensive capability. The speed restrictions could also disrupt interceptor drones used to defend against incoming Russian Shaheds.
However, the country does not use Starlink for its long-range missions targeting Russian oil refineries, which have become a major point of contention with the Trump administration.
The US president had been pressuring Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil infrastructure, blaming the attacks for contributing to soaring global oil prices. Ukraine temporarily suspended its strikes, but Russia continued targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, eventually prompting Kyiv to resume its attacks.
SpaceX developed Starshield for government missions, with the US Department of Defense among its key customers. Starshield's secure communications services rely on Starlink's satellite constellation but use additional security features.
On Wednesday, Musk posted on X that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, so “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS [President of the United States]”.
Trump denies involvement
On Friday, Trump told reporters that neither he nor Musk was responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access.
“Well, I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” Trump said outside the White House. “And from what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been.”
Trump also said that any limits on Ukraine’s access to Starshield were not imposed by the United States.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Serhii Beskrestnov, said on Friday that the country was in talks with SpaceX and the Pentagon to lift a speed cap on its Starshield service.
“How this will develop, who will make this decision, who influences these decisions, we can only guess,” he told AP.
