US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as “very irresponsible“ the claims of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Washington has restricted the work of Starlink and the military version Starshield in Ukraine.
“President Zelensky needs to be very careful with such claims, which are not true“, Bessent said in an interview with NBC News. According to him, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have categorically denied that the administration imposed such a restriction.
The dispute erupted after Ukrainian forces announced a sudden speed limit on the terminals. The connection is interrupted when moving at a speed of more than 160 km/h - a threshold that makes it difficult to use fast Ukrainian drones and devices designed to intercept Russian Shahed jet drones.
“Unfortunately, today we cannot use Starlink or Starshield technology on our territory to shoot down Shahed jet drones“, Zelensky said. He said that in Ukraine the connection stops after reaching 161 km/h, while in the European Union the terminals continue to operate at a higher speed. According to him, this leads to the loss of drones and communication.
Ukraine is in talks with SpaceX, the Pentagon and the US government to remove the restriction. Zelensky's defense technology adviser, Serhiy Beskrestnov, told The Associated Press that the problem does not appear to be just technical or commercial, but also has a political dimension.
Who controls Starshield
Elon Musk has said that Starshield is owned and controlled by the U.S. government. He said decisions on speed limits and use are made by the U.S. military and ultimately by the president.
Trump has denied ordering the restriction and said he does not hold Musk responsible. The Pentagon has not publicly explained why the 160 km/h threshold was introduced or who made the decision.
Lithuania investigates attempted arson
Against this backdrop, Lithuania has described an attempted arson attack on a SpaceX Starlink base station near Vilnius as an act of sabotage linked to Russia and aimed at weakening Ukrainian military capabilities.
The fire was started around 2 a.m. and was quickly extinguished. Only minor material damage was caused, and the station's operations were not disrupted. Lithuanian authorities are searching for the perpetrators.
“We understand that this was not ordinary arson, but an act of sabotage“, said the head of the National Crisis Management Center, Vilmantas Vitkauskas. He linked the case to earlier attacks on Starlink in Bulgaria and Poland, saying: “Ukraine is the target.“
Poland has already said that Russian intelligence services were behind the arson of Starlink infrastructure in September. Two Turkish citizens have been detained in connection with the case. Moscow denies accusations of Russian interference.
Sources: yahoo.com, apnews.com, internazionale.it