Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink satellite internet service has not yet been fully restored, as media reports suggested the order to throttle the service had come from within the White House. Zelenskyy met European leaders on Friday in Brussels, where he asked the EU for another €70bn next year to fund Ukraine’s defence against Russia. The meeting offered an important opportunity for Zelenskyy and Europe to align their strategies, as Zelenskyy once again found himself embroiled in a major quarrel with the US president, Donald Trump.
Hours earlier, Trump had called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries “a disgrace” and criticised Zelenskyy, after an purported “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine failed to take hold. Trump’s administration is suspected of withholding intelligence from Ukraine on incoming Russian ballistic missile strikes, and of throttling Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite internet network, to prevent it from being used on drones flying above 100mph. Neither has officially been confirmed.
Speaking after meeting EU leaders on Friday, Zelenskyy said that Starshield had not yet returned to normal. But is it coming back now? Yes.” on Friday reported that the order to throttle Starshield had come from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a western official briefed on the matter.
They did not identify the White House official who had made the decision, but said the Pentagon had been informed that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military had to be slowed. Zelenskyy called it a “very dangerous and unpleasant surprise” that speeds had been reduced on Starlink, which Ukraine uses to support its most effective air defence systems against Russian jet-powered drones. Starlink is produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, but controlled by the US government.
When Zelenskyy arrived for talks with EU leaders, he was applauded by the heads of state and government of the bloc’s 27 countries. Zelenskyy later said he had heard “only support”, when asked about reports that European leaders had asked him to dial down his criticism of Trump. According to a transcript of his remarks, he told EU leaders that the war would cost €155bn in 2027.
The remaining third was to be filled by other “international partners”, such as the UK, Canada, Norway and Japan. The realisation that Kyiv again risks a financial crunch has put Russia’s €210bn assets frozen inside the EU back on the table. The EU takes the profits from those assets to support Ukraine, but last year decided against using the funds themselves, instead opting for an EU-backed €90bn loan.
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