President Donald Trump described Starshield as “back” in Ukraine on Thursday after reports of service limits, but his remarks did not establish whether Ukrainian access had been fully restored.
Asked about a Wall Street Journal report that he had asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to restore the service, Trump said it did not matter whether he or someone else made the call. “I guess the bottom line, he put it back,” he said. The Journal reported that some Ukrainian drones became unusable after Musk restricted the connection speeds of equipment in Ukraine.
Musk has said the U.S. military determines Starshield’s speed and usage limits, with the president as the final authority. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon had not directed a recent change, and Trump said last week he had not ordered one.
Ukraine also uses SpaceX’s civilian Starlink network, according to an Agence France-Presse account carried by NDTV. The account described Starshield as supporting military communications, drone interceptions and midrange strikes against Russian-occupied territory.
Ukraine separately said a cap on Starlink remained despite Trump’s statement, as EconoTimes reported in coverage of Kyiv’s account.
