Trump denies US behind Starshield limits that hit Ukraine drones

US President Donald Trump denied on Friday that the United States restricted Ukraine's access to the Starshield satellite network after a speed limit left faster Ukrainian drones without a connection.

He said any limit to Ukraine's access to the system was not imposed by the United States, according to Reuters. He denied that the White House had ordered restrictions on satellite internet services in Ukraine this week, according to CNBC.

Starshield, developed by SpaceX, is a military-grade sister service of Starlink that relies on Starlink and was designed for the Pentagon. On Tuesday night, speed on the network was restricted to 100mph (160km/h), meaning weapons travelling faster than that lost connectivity to the network, according to BBC.

Ukraine was hit by several deadly strikes on Tuesday after the slowdown. About 600,000 people in Ukraine were left without power after communications and energy facilities used by Ukraine's military were hit in those attacks.

The cause of the restriction is disputed. Reuters reported on Thursday that the order came from inside the White House, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter. Trump said the restriction was not him and he did not think it was Starlink owner Elon Musk. Musk suggested the US government might have been behind the restrictions, saying Starshield is managed by the US government and the Pentagon could have been responsible.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Starshield speed had yet to be restored hours before Trump's denial. A bipartisan group of US senators signed a letter demanding an investigation into the network disruptions. The BBC reported that the US had warned it could withhold intelligence sharing crucial for Kyiv's defences if Ukraine did not stop hitting Russian oil refineries. Musk cut Moscow's access to the Starlink service in February. Trump said on Friday he was "not sure" Starshield access had "ever came down."