Ukraine's Starlink and Starshield service restored after overnight limits broke drone missions, Trump denies ordering the throttle and declines to blame Putin for the war, UK defence secretary reassured without asking why it happened

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Ukraine's access to SpaceX's Starlink satellite network and its military-grade companion Starshield has been restored after an overnight restriction disrupted combat missions, Britain's defence secretary Wes Streeting confirmed after a meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in Washington. The restriction throttled terminals moving faster than 100 mph, was never announced to Ukrainian forces in advance, and cost drone units aircraft and sorties.

Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed on Telegram that speed limits had been imposed on terminals in motion. Yevhen Karas, commander of the 413th Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment, said the shutdown lasted only a day but that several drones and other systems were affected and some missions failed. Who ordered it remains unanswered. Donald Trump told reporters he "didn't know who gave the order on Starshield" and that "it wasn't us"; Elon Musk wrote on X that the US government owns and controls the military system and that any limits on speed or usage "are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS"; a US official told the Epoch Times that no such request was ever made by the president. Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski had asked Musk directly whether the restrictions were linked to political pressure.

The interruption came as Trump pressed Kyiv to stop striking Russian oil refineries, declared a ceasefire on energy facilities that Zelensky abandoned amid continued Russian attacks, and suggested it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president". On Friday Trump declined to say that Vladimir Putin started the war, telling reporters "I know the details, OK, and at some point I'll release the details", and calling Zelensky "more difficult to deal with than Putin". In Brussels, Zelensky thanked the European Union for its support, hailed its "real leaders", and said the US purchase of Russian diesel "will put more money straight into Putin's pocket to fund this war". He also signalled he agreed with the suggestion that he is being made a scapegoat for fuel prices driven by the Iran war the US and Israel launched in February. Streeting warned that if Moscow's aggression is rewarded, "the consequences will not remain confined to Ukraine or to my continent".

Streeting told the BBC he was "reassured directly" that access had returned. The two men, he said, did not discuss why the interruption had happened.