Ukraine: Starlink still isn’t working after Trump restoration promise

Ukraine’s military on Friday struggled with a still-slowed Starlink satellite system despite President Trump’s promise a day earlier that SpaceX owner Elon Musk had restored the service.

Connections with Starshield — the military version of Starlink, a major tool for Ukraine to defend itself from missile and drone attacks from Russia — continued to fail in most of the country if drones flew faster than 100 mph, The Wall Street Journal reported .

“The speed limits on Starlink and Starshield are still there, and the speed has not been restored,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks on Friday.

He said Ukraine hopes SpaceX and the Trump administration will fully restore the service: “We count on such decisions.”

The Journal reported Thursday that Trump called Musk on Wednesday to ask that he remove restrictions on Starshield. The outlet earlier in the week reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of the satellite services.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump denied speaking to Musk about the tech leader’s decision to restrict Starlink for Ukraine but said he will do so if access is not restored.

“I have not spoken to him,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn. “I might have to, but I have not. I have heard it was fixed. If it’s not, I’ll speak to him.”

Asked who had initially ordered the slowdown, Trump said, “I have no idea, but I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”

Ukraine’s military has been kneecapped since Oct. 14 after Starlink and Starshield connections in the country were slowed without warning. The system’s degradation came after Zelensky lashed out at Trump for waiving sanctions on Russia and making a deal to purchase diesel from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky called Trump “weak” for making the deal.

The Starlink restrictions have disrupted any military equipment that moves at high speeds, making it difficult for Ukraine to use interceptor drones to defend against Russian attacks.

Musk last week denied being behind the issue, instead placing blame on the Trump administration.

“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” he said in a social media post.