On Friday, Donald Trump stepped out of the White House after a visit to Georgia and told reporters that neither he nor Elon Musk had any hand in the decision to scale back Starlink services to Ukraine.
The reduction, approved by the White House the previous day, cut the satellite company's Starshield bandwidth available to Kyiv’s military headquarters, slowing internet speeds and hampering real‑time coordination with NATO allies.
SpaceX’s Starshield, built on the Starlink constellation, provides secure communications for government and national‑security customers, and the cut was not imposed by the United States, Trump said.
Ukraine’s defense ministry has already begun negotiations to restore full satellite access, with a deadline set for the upcoming ceasefire talks scheduled for next week.