President Donald Trump is denying he had any part in the recent restrictions on SpaceX’s Starlink network that prevented Ukraine from intercepting Russian drone attacks this week.
When asked by reporters who had prior knowledge of the disruptions, which Ukrainian authorities say were linked to at least five civilian deaths, Trump said “it wasn’t me, and it wasn’t Elon.”
“I didn’t do that,” he told reporters Friday. “No, we didn’t do that at all. In fact, I don’t even think it was slowed down from what I understood. Because I just checked this morning.”
The disruption occurred as Trump was pressuring Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries, representing a further deterioration of the already contentious relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy. Ukrainian officials have asserted the Trump administration and SpaceX’s Elon Musk intentionally slowed satellite internet speeds to force Zelenskyy into accepting Trump’s energy ceasefire.
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Minutes after his statements Friday, The Telegraph reported that Musk had approached Trump directly with the plan to throttle Ukraine’s Starshield satellite internet network. But after Russia launched a series of deadly attacks on Kyiv following the new restrictions, Musk deflected.
“He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the U.S. administration that did it,” a senior source told the Telegraph. “The reality is that they were both in it.”
Musk said Wednesday that Washington controls Starshield, and that the U.S. military and Trump are the ones to determine implementing restrictions.
Zelenskyy said transmission speeds had yet to be fully restored to their previous rates but confirmed the effort was underway.
His statements Friday echoed the bipartisan outrage among U.S. lawmakers, including two Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee who signed a bipartisan letter calling on Pentagon Inspector General Platte Moring to launch an investigation.
“We use Starlink to intercept jet-powered ‘shaheds’ that attack our civilians and kill families,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on X. “We couldn’t use a tool that helps protect people. That’s very painful and frustrating.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine uses the network to intercept Russia’s Shahed drones, strike targets in occupied Ukrainian territory and deliver food and water to troops by drone — not to carry out attacks over the Russian border.
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