US offers mixed messages on limits to Ukraine's Starshield system
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukraine's access to the Starshield satellite system had been restored after Kyiv reported limitations in its access. Trump administration officials and their allies have blamed each other for the system restrictions which a European official said were still not over in Ukraine as of Thursday.
U.S. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal announced on October 22 that he has initiated an investigation into sudden limitations placed on Starshield satellite services in Ukraine, which have hindered the nation's capacity to track down Russian drones. Starshield is a militarized iteration of SpaceX's Starlink system, extensively utilized by the Ukrainian military.
Kyiv reported that on October 14, SpaceX imposed restrictions on Starshield operations in Ukraine, setting a speed cap of 161 kilometers per hour (kph) and limiting the country's interceptors' ability to neutralize Russian drone-powered aircraft. Blumenthal expressed his concern in a letter addressed to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, stating that this decision to limit vital technology for a crucial ally...
(puts) Ukrainian forces at risk and their people in peril. The senator further emphasized that this move raises significant questions about the control over critical capabilities that the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to obtain.
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Independent's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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