Washington, 20 October. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Ukraine currently has no access to the Starshield communications system and the issue is under discussion; Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, maintains that the administration has changed nothing in Kyiv's access to the system.
The decision to restrict Ukraine's access to Starshield, The Wall Street Journal reports, was taken by Elon Musk himself. After the Oslo talks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine expects Starlink service to resume within 48 hours.
Starshield is the military version of the Starlink satellite system that SpaceX builds for government customers: secure communications and data transmission through the same low-orbit satellites. For the Ukrainian army, satellite communications are important for commanding troops and drones.
Background: According to Zelensky, the US has resumed full intelligence sharing with Ukraine after advance warnings of missile strikes were apparently suspended last week.
List of sources used: TASS, TASS, RT, RBC, The Guardian
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
