Burnham defends with Trump Kyiv’s “total access” to Starlink

O british Prime Minister Andy Burnham today defended with US President Donald Trump the importance of Ukraine having full access to the Starlink satellite network, according to Downing Street.

The British leader pointed out that this system, whose military version is known as Starshield, is essential for Ukrainians “to continue to defend themselves against Russia’s large-scale invasion.”.

Andy Burnham “appreciated President Trump’s initiative to bring (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to the negotiating table,” he detailed the advice of the head of the British Government.

“ The leaders agreed to work together, alongside international partners, to put an end to this bloodshed,” he added.

Kiev reported today that restrictions on access to Starshield continue to exist, although Trump announced on the eve that Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, had restored full access of Ukrainian forces to the network.

A source of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence today informed journalists — including AFP — that technical failures were continuing to occur.

Trump, reported on Thursday the Wall Street Journal, telephoned Musk asking him to suspend the limitations to the military version of the Starlink satellite system in Ukraine.

According to the newspaper, which cites US officials, Trump expressed frustration with the speed limit imposed on Ukrainian network equipment — which lost connection by over 100 miles per hour — which, in turn, undermined the effectiveness of the attack drones and Ukrainian interceptors in the face of the Russian offensives.

Official sources from Washington and Kiev indicated to the newspaper that the service began to function more normally on Thursday after the conversation; however, some Ukrainian representatives pointed out that the system still does not work with total normality.

The call happened after the same newspaper claimed that Musk ordered a reduction in service speed, in the midst of contradictory versions between SpaceX and the White House about whether the tycoon acted on his own or at the request of the US government.

“I don’t want to go into details,” Trump said when questioned by the press at the White House about the alleged phone call made to Musk. Trump merely said that his relationship with the businessman in the technological sector “is very good”.

“ The truth is, whether I called him or someone else makes no difference. In the end, what matters is that he restored the service,” the American President added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed on Tuesday the re-establishment of early U.S. alerts aimed at detecting Russian missiles, another problem that Ukrainian forces have complained about in recent weeks, marked by Trump's criticism of Kiev and threat of retaliation in the event of attacks on Russian refineries.

Steve Witkoff, sent by Trump, met this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg following a meeting in Oslo with European leaders and Zelensky, who called for a cessation of fighting in current positions as a first step towards negotiations.

Russia demands, inter alia, that the Ukrainian army withdraw from the territories it still controls in the Donetsk region (east of Ukraine), which Kiev considers unacceptable.

Witkoff also noted the distance between the belligerent parties, considering in social network X that discussions with Putin had been “constructive and would continue in the framework of trilateral talks”, but recognizing that there was still “a lot of work to do”.