WASHINGTON
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Washington was discussing Ukraine’s request for access to Starshield, a military satellite communications system, but stressed Kyiv did not currently have access to the service.
“It’s not at this moment available to Ukraine, and that’s under conversation,” Rubio said, distinguishing Starshield from Starlink, a commercial satellite internet service.
Both services are divisions of SpaceX.
“Starshield is a contract with the US military. It has nothing to do with Ukraine,” Rubio said, adding that Kyiv had requested access to the system to conduct deep strikes inside Russia.
“It’s under discussion right now of how they would want to use it,” he said.
Asked whether the reported disruption to Starlink services in Ukraine on Wednesday was deliberate, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said, Rubio rejected the allegation.
“Well, I don’t know what Zelenskyy said. I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate. We have nothing to do with that,” Rubio said.
Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that restrictions on US-made Starlink terminals had slowed some drones on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy also said Kyiv had not received the usual advance warning from Western partners about Russian ballistic missile strikes targeting the capital.
Rubio said the US had not ordered Starlink speeds to be reduced and that the service had reportedly been restored to its previous level.
“No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn’t use it,” he said, calling the reports “categorically false.”
US President Donald Trump on Friday denied ordering a temporary disruption of Starlink service for Ukraine’s military.
Asked whether he or Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Starlink, had decided to suspend access, Trump told reporters at the White House: “It wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.”
“From what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been,” he added.
