Trump intervenes to lift Starlink restrictions in Ukraine... in contact with Musk

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Following repeated criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump asked billionaire Elon Musk on Thursday to lift restrictions imposed on a military-use version of the Starlink satellite Internet service.

The US President called Musk, head of SpaceX, which owns Starlink, expressing his dissatisfaction with the restrictions that limited the speed of the system, and asking him to lift them, at a time when he informed his aides and allies this week of his desire to reverse the slowdown in service in Ukraine, according to what was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

American and Ukrainian officials also said that the system began operating more normally on Thursday, shortly after the call, but some Ukrainian officials indicated that it had not regained its full functionality, despite its improved speed compared to the level imposed by the restrictions.

This came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had expressed his feeling of disappointment due to the disruption of the “Starlink” service, warning that this represented a grave mistake that could lead to major losses. He said that the slowdown in service prevented Ukrainian forces from shooting down a number of drones.

On the other hand, Musk said that the US government is the party that imposes restrictions on the use of the service in Ukraine, while Trump denied responsibility for not making the service available, also expressing his belief that Musk is not responsible for that.

While US Vice President J.D. Vance defended Musk's position, considering it understandable that the businessman would not want to get involved in a war between two countries without actual guidance from the US government on what he should do.

Vance said in statements to reporters: “I do not think it is related to Elon. I think the issue is mainly related to the policy that the United States will follow towards Ukraine and Russia.”

Kiev announced restrictions on the service last week, following Trump's criticism of Ukraine and his call on it to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.

Note that Ukraine relies on “Starshield”, the military version of the “Starlink” system, for field communications and carrying out medium-range strikes inside territory controlled by Russia, as well as operating interceptor drones.

Kiev also uses the civilian Starlink network for communications, but does not use it for offensive operations.

Therefore, Ukrainian officials explained that the recent restrictions affected the performance of drones and logistical operations on the battle lines.

It is noteworthy that this crisis came at a time when Musk’s relationship with Trump witnessed a renewed rapprochement after a period of coolness, while disagreements escalated between the American and Ukrainian presidents over the course of the war and the Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities.