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SpaceX boss Elon Musk said that any disruptions Ukraine reports in its use of the Starshield satellite communications system would be the responsibility of the US government, and not his company.
“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk stressed, referring to US President Donald Trump.
Musk underlined the distinction between the Starshield system, which Ukraine relies on for battlefield communications, and the parallel Starlink civilian satellite system, which Ukraine also uses but is not allowed to employ for offensive operations. Both systems were designed by Musk’s SpaceX.
Musk was responding to a post on X by Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who said that “Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h is being restored,” but that “removing Starshield’s speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine’s defence.”
Fedorov then thanked Musk for his “continued support.”
Ukrainian defence officials have suggested that Washington is behind the slower speeds reported on some internet terminals that help the country’s military strike Russian-occupied territory and operate interceptor drones.
Ukraine has also accused the United States of helping Russia by failing to warn it about incoming missile strikes, with Kyiv hit by ballistic missiles for two nights in a row before air raid sirens could sound to warn people to take cover.
Meanwhile, Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking two oil refineries in breach of the “energy ceasefire”, a claim Kyiv dismissed as “fake”, saying that other sites had been hit “but the refineries were not”.
The row came as Kyiv dealt with the aftermath of an overnight Russian attack that killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others. A large fire broke out in a residential building after it came under Russian shelling. The strikes targeted the Darnytska CHP-4 plant, which supplies the capital with heating and electricity, according to Zelenskyy.
Russia said it had shot down 900 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 180 near Moscow.
Trump’s election move?
Opposition Democrats in the US Senate and House condemned the Trump Administration over the reported interrupted connections.
Trump, facing key midterm elections next month, in which fuel prices are a major issue, has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for the squeeze on supplies and the rise in prices at the pump.
A senior official in Kyiv confirmed that the United States had in recent days threatened to stop providing intelligence about Russian missile launches, which Ukraine uses to thwart attacks.
Trump denied doing so on Tuesday.
Meloni: Diesel deal is legitimisation for Moscow
In Rome on Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said “It is a very risky choice” and “a legitimisation for Moscow while its bombs are still falling on Ukrainian cities”, referring to the US-Russia deal on the purchase of Russian diesel that was agreed last Friday.
Speaking in Parliament before heading to Brussels for Thursday and Friday’s European Council, Meloni warned of an “implicit weakening of the sanctions lever”, which she said runs counter to what has so far been done, including by the United States, “to push Putin to sit down at the negotiating table”.