The US has again denied Trump's involvement in restricting satellite communications for Ukraine, but there is a nuance
Kyiv • UNN
A US official said that Trump did not order restrictions on Starshield for Ukraine. At the same time, the decision may have been made by other entities.
U.S. President Donald Trump did not order restrictions on Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starshield military satellite system. However, there are other officials who could have done so. A senior U.S. administration official said this while commenting on accusations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Bloomberg reports, as cited by UNN.
Details
According to the U.S. official, Trump never demanded that Ukraine’s use of Starshield technology be restricted; the technology is used, among other things, to combat Russian drones.
Earlier, Zelenskyy accused the U.S. president and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of restricting access to satellite technology. According to the Ukrainian leader, this reduced the effectiveness of Ukrainian interceptor drones and led to civilian casualties.
Who could have made the decision to restrict Starshield
As Bloomberg notes, the statement by the U.S. administration representative does not rule out the possibility that the decision in question was made by other U.S. officials or government agencies. It only denies Trump’s personal involvement.
Elon Musk’s comments further complicated the situation. He said that any restrictions on the speed or use of Starshield are determined by the U.S. military and, ultimately, by the U.S. president.
At the same time, Starshield exists in several versions. One network is owned and operated by the U.S. government, while SpaceX also provides military communications services through its own Starlink satellite infrastructure.
It remains unclear who exactly could have imposed the restrictions about which the Ukrainian side is complaining and which version of the system they concern.