Trump asks Musk to lift restrictions on Starlink service in Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials, that President Donald Trump placed a phone call to Elon Musk and asked him to remove the restrictions on Ukraine's use of the Starlink service.

The newspaper quoted U.S. and Ukrainian officials as saying that the Starlink system resumed normal operation on Thursday, shortly after the Trump‑Musk conversation.

Several Ukrainian officials told the paper that the system has not yet regained its full operational capacity, but it is now operating at higher speeds than under the previous restrictions, according to Reuters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the day said that Starlink speeds in Ukraine have not yet been fully restored and expressed hope for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming days.

The Journal, citing officials, reported that Trump conveyed his frustration to Musk over the throttling of the system to a maximum speed of 160 km/h.

Blinken explained on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine's access to Starlink are not made by the White House but by SpaceX and its chief executive, Elon Musk.

Ukraine relies on Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations. The imposed bandwidth limits have hampered Ukrainian offensive and defensive drone missions carried out by Kyiv against Russia.