US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that SpaceX chief Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite network, but declined to say whether he had personally spoken to the billionaire about it, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

"I don't want to comment on it, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference, I guess. The bottom line – he put it back," Trump told reporters, according to Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal had reported earlier on Thursday that Trump called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starlink, and that the system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the conversation, citing US and Ukrainian officials. Some Ukrainian officials told the newspaper the system had not been restored to full functionality, but was working at higher speeds than under the cap.

Kyiv gives a different account

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier on Thursday that speed on Starlink systems had not been restored for Ukraine, and that he hoped for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the coming days, Reuters reported.

Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations, and restricting the service had hampered the country's attack and air-defence drone missions against Russia. Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that decisions on Ukraine's Starlink access were up to SpaceX and Musk, not the White House, and Trump has denied being involved in the decision to slow the service down.

The dispute matters because Starlink is woven into Ukraine's front-line operations at a moment when Kyiv and Moscow have both signalled readiness to resume US-mediated peace talks next month, even as Russian missile and drone strikes on the capital continue.