Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that restrictions on a military-grade version of the Starlink network, provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, have returned.
In a social media post, Zelensky reported “significant disruptions” to Starshield’s operations over the past several days, severely hindering Ukraine’s ability to fight off the Russian invasion on the front lines.
No reason for the outage has been reported, but Zelensky said Ukraine is trying to “establish all the circumstances with the American side.”
Speed limits were also imposedon Starshield satellite terminals in October amid allegations that Musk, Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again ally, personally intervened and ordered the restrictions.
It remains unclear whether Elon Musk acted alone when he put the October restrictions on Starshield or was ordered by Donald Trump.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Trump denied asking Musk to restrict the satellite-based network Ukraine relies on, as the president ramped up his desperate bid to end the nearly five-year war he claimed he would resolve within one day of re-entering the White House.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump did, at least, call Muskand ask him to restore Starlink to full capability.
The outage followed the arrival of Trump’s U.S. envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for crunch talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky said the restrictions on Starshield internet terminals mean that services are cut off at speeds above 161 kilometers per hour, severely hindering Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.
Zelensky, pictured with Trump, has ramped up the pressure on Putin.
Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
“The Ukrainian military has already investigated the circumstances, and these are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” Zelensky said.
“There have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time. Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians killmore Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine,” he added.
Both Trump and Musk previously dodged responsibility for how and why the October restrictions on Starshield were put in place.
“I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn’t make any difference, I guess,” Trump said. “The bottom line–he [Musk] put it back.”
In an October post on X, Musk suggested that “any speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and SpaceX for comment.
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