Trump Says SpaceX Lifted Starlink Limits in Ukraine; Zelensky Disagrees

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that SpaceX, the space company led by Elon Musk, has removed the restrictions on using the Starlink satellite internet network in Ukraine. The limits had caused difficulties for the Ukrainian army, which relies on the network in its war against Russia's invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has indicated the problem is not yet resolved.

Differing accounts

Trump was asked whether he had discussed the restrictions with Musk, the owner of SpaceX, as the US newspaper The Washington Post had earlier reported. The president declined to comment and said it makes no difference who called whom. In his view, what matters is that Musk has restored everything.

Just a few hours before the statement, Zelensky had said that Starlink's speed in Ukraine had still not been restored after the restrictions introduced in mid-October.

What happened

The restrictions were first noticed overnight on 14 October. The network stopped working on devices moving at high speed.

This proved critical for the Ukrainian army. Starshield, the military version of Starlink, is used to guide drones in strikes on targets in territories that Russia has occupied during the war. According to publicly available information, Ukraine does not use Starshield for attacks on targets inside Russia, because Russia is not within the network's coverage zone.

Who proposed the limits

Several media outlets, including the British newspaper The Telegraph and the US publication The Wall Street Journal, reported that Musk himself proposed the restrictions. According to those reports, the businessman discussed the idea with the Pentagon, the US defence department, and received its support. The White House, the office of the US president, said for its part that it had given no instructions to restrict the network.