Hegseth: US Did Not Restrict Starshield in Ukraine

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States was not involved in restricting the Starshield system in Ukraine and gave no such orders, according to remarks to reporters carried by Clash Report.

"We did not revoke anything. There are terms of service that ultimately must be followed, and that is where it all starts. Starlink has the right to make such decisions. But in our view, nothing has changed. We did not issue any orders or anything like that," Hegseth said.

Interceptors and US position

Hegseth also commented on supplying interceptors to Ukraine. He said the United States wants to make sure these missiles are first of all sufficient for American service members. At the same time, the Pentagon chief said US policy toward Ukraine remains unchanged and added that Washington wishes Ukrainians good luck. Our earlier report covers Zelensky's call with Rubio on ballistic interceptors and Starlink.

How the dispute unfolded

On October 16, US President Donald Trump said the White House had not taken part in restricting Ukraine's use of Starshield. The Telegraph, however, reported that SpaceX chief Elon Musk had proposed to Trump limiting the bandwidth of the Starlink and Starshield satellite networks used by Ukrainian forces.

On October 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops had tested Starlink in cars on EU territory and found no restrictions there, which in his view points to a planned operation against Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has "nothing to do" with the Starlink restrictions in Ukraine. On October 18, Zelensky told NBC that the signal to restrict Starlink and Starshield for Ukraine came from the US government. More analysis is in our politics section.