Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Starlink system has not been completely switched off in Ukraine, but speed restrictions have affected the country's ability to use it for certain military and humanitarian purposes, as the US denies any involvement.
Speaking at a briefing on the sidelines of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels on Friday, Zelenskyy said the defence ministry remained in contact with partners and that he received indications from the White House that services would be fully restored.
The Ukrainian president said Ukraine was not using Starlink to conduct deep strikes against targets inside Russia but relied on the system to operate interceptor drones against Russian jet-powered Shahed drones.
Starlink-enabled drones, he said, were used to deliver food and water to Ukrainian personnel in positions exposed to enemy drone attacks.
He said the restrictions also affected Ukraine's ability to carry out medium-range strikes against military targets.
Elon Musk on Thursday said that "any limits on speed or usage" of his SpaceX company's Starshield systems were "decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS", referring to US President Donald Trump.
Yet, later on Friday, Trump said he did not think either he or Elon Musk was responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access.
Any limit to Ukraine's access to the Starshield system was not imposed by the United States, Trump added.
Trump also added that he has a good relationship with Zelenskyy.
US-Ukraine ties hit fresh low
Zelenskyy said Ukraine receives information from the US specifically about Russian ballistic missile launches, while dozens of countries also share intelligence with Kiev.
He said Ukraine receives PAC-2 and PAC-3 air defence missiles from the US through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative, with European countries financing the deliveries.
“So it's no gift. It's not for free,” he said, acknowledging that Ukraine is not currently a priority destination for the missiles.
The Ukrainian leader criticised the recent US-Russia diesel deal and the prospect of lifting sanctions, saying Kiev had not been informed in advance.
Ukraine, he said, proposed an energy ceasefire and offered the US to provide Kiev with anti-ballistic missiles to protect energy infrastructure for the duration of the arrangement.
