Trump: I am not responsible for the Starlink service not being available in Ukraine

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US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is not responsible for the lack of availability of the Starlink satellite Internet service in Ukraine, and that he also does not believe that Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, which the service belongs to, is responsible for that.

Trump added that the United States did not impose any restrictions on Ukraine's access to Starlink's StarShield system.

The US President also confirmed that he has a good relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This comes as Zelensky announced earlier on Friday that Starlink services in his country are still in the process of resuming their activity, after partial restrictions hindered the Ukrainian army’s ability to confront Russian forces.

He said during a press conference in Brussels, where he met with European leaders: “Has the speed completely returned to what it was before? No. Is it being restored now? Yes.”

He added, "My partners informed me that the US administration and the White House sent a letter to SpaceX requesting the resumption of service."

On Wednesday, Kiev announced restrictions on the service run by SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, after Trump criticized Ukraine and called on it to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.

For his part, Musk said that any disruption to the service is the responsibility of the US government, not SpaceX.

Zelensky described what happened as a "very disturbing and dangerous surprise."

Ukraine relies on the StarShield system, the military version of Starlink, for its field communications and carrying out medium-range strikes on territory occupied by Russia, as well as operating interceptor drones.

SpaceX's civilian Starlink network is also used, but not for offensive operations.

Zelensky explained that the slowdown in the Starlink service prevented Ukrainian forces from shooting down a number of drones. He said: "In other words, we were not able to use one of the means of defense... and this is very painful."