WATCH: Zelenskyy has asked Trump to reduce limits on Ukraine’s use of Starshield
From PBS NewsHour.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has asked President Donald Trump several times to reduce limits to Ukraine’s use of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink satellite internet service. The system is funded by the Pentagon and operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Starshield, which is a key component of Ukraine's military communications network, has geographic restrictions. It can’t be used to carry out attacks inside Russia. It can act defensively and in the Russian occupied territories of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said if given the opportunity, Ukraine would use the system to identify and attack missile launch sites inside Russia. He said Ukraine would not use Starshield to carry out massive attacks on Russia or energy sites due to the likelihood of civilian casualties.
Lifting Starshield limits would mean Russia wouldn’t “have opportunity to use each day ballistic missiles against us,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we will block their launches.”
The Ukrainian president said Trump seemed open to the reduction of limits.
“He said that he will try. It doesn't depend on him,” Zelenskyy said. “He said that it depends mostly on SpaceX. He said that he's supportive, and I was very thankful.”
In mid-October, Starshield was partially disabled. The details of what happened are unclear.
Musk said limits to Starshield’s speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and Trump. Trump has said he didn’t order the restrictions and doubted that Musk was to blame for the disruption.
Asked who he thought was to blame for the disruption, Zelenskyy said he’s unsure whether Musk can act alone.
“I'm not sure that he can do it with Starshield because it's military. It's government version,” Zelenskyy said. “I'm not sure that he could do it personally alone without any representatives from American government.”
Asked whether he believes Musk supports Ukraine and wants it to win the war, Zelenskyy said “I don’t know.”
He said he wanted to speak with Musk following the Starshield disruptions but “they didn't connect with us.”
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Starshield, which is a key component of Ukraine's military communications network, has geographic restrictions. It can’t be used to carry out attacks inside Russia. It can act defensively and in the Russian occupied territories of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said if given the opportunity, Ukraine would use the system to identify and attack missile launch sites inside Russia. He said Ukraine would not use Starshield to carry out massive attacks on Russia or energy sites due to the likelihood of civilian casualties.
Lifting Starshield limits would mean Russia wouldn’t “have opportunity to use each day ballistic missiles against us,” Zelenskyy said. “Because we will block their launches.”
The Ukrainian president said Trump seemed open to the reduction of limits.
“He said that he will try. It doesn't depend on him,” Zelenskyy said. “He said that it depends mostly on SpaceX. He said that he's supportive, and I was very thankful.”
In mid-October, Starshield was partially disabled. The details of what happened are unclear.
Musk said limits to Starshield’s speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and Trump. Trump has said he didn’t order the restrictions and doubted that Musk was to blame for the disruption.
Asked who he thought was to blame for the disruption, Zelenskyy said he’s unsure whether Musk can act alone.
“I'm not sure that he can do it with Starshield because it's military. It's government version,” Zelenskyy said. “I'm not sure that he could do it personally alone without any representatives from American government.”
Asked whether he believes Musk supports Ukraine and wants it to win the war, Zelenskyy said “I don’t know.”
He said he wanted to speak with Musk following the Starshield disruptions but “they didn't connect with us.”
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Sign up for Here's The Deal with Lisa Desjardins: https://to.pbs.org/41q6E8i
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Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
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