Ukraine on Wednesday accused the United States of helping Russia by failing to warn it of incoming missile strikes and hobbling Kyiv’s military response through changes to the Starlink system it uses on the battlefield.
A senior official in Kyiv confirmed that the United States had in recent days threatened to stop providing intelligence about Russian missile launches that Ukraine uses to thwart attacks. Defence officials also suggested Washington was behind slower speeds reported on some internet terminals which help Ukraine’s military hit Russian-occupied territory and operate interceptor drones. President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy on economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, meanwhile said the first contracts on providing diesel to the United States would be signed in the coming days.
Trump denied doing so on Tuesday. “I don’t know, but we are asking to do it, to switch (it) on. Strike drones and interceptor drones should be able to fly again”. “I think his advisors are wrong. I don’t know who is pushing him not to the right side. “We are carefully noting all this.
Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov later said that “Starlink’s operation at speeds up to 160 km/h is being restored.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on US tech billionaire Elon Musk to restore Starlink, which Kyiv says has been slowed down. “I hope that it’s a mistake, maybe huge technical problem,” Zelensky told UK journalist Piers Morgan. Zelensky replied in the affirmative when asked if he felt “betrayed” after Trump announced a diesel-supply deal with heavily sanctioned Moscow. “It’s painful when President Trump chooses one side, not our side,” he said. This is not (the) right side of history,” Zelensky had framed the lack of warnings from allies about a wave of powerful strikes on Tuesday night and early Wednesday as “completely unjust”, and accused Russia of wilfully flouting a supposed “energy ceasefire” announced unilaterally by Trump. “It’s obvious they (the United States) are helping Russia for some reason,” the senior official told AFP. Zelensky adviser Sergiy Beskrestnov said the attacks and Starlink restrictions were more than a coincidence. Close contact In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was watching for any sign that Washington’s backing for Ukraine may have shifted. It is too early to draw any systemic conclusions,” he told reporters. “We are in close, hourly contact with the American side, and everything is moving very quickly,” he added.
He drew a distinction between the Starshield system, which Ukraine relies on for battlefield communications, and the parallel Starlink civilian satellite system, which Ukraine also deploys but is not allowed to use for offensive operations. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.
Musk said any disruption was the responsibility of the US government, not his SpaceX company. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk said, referring to US President Donald Trump. He also accused Russia of deliberately violating what US President Donald Trump had described as an “energy ceasefire.”
Earlier reporting noted: President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the failure to notify Ukraine ahead of a series of heavy strikes late Tuesday and into Wednesday, calling it “completely unjust.
The lack of warning has been reported only rarely during the conflict and Ukrainian officials have previously suggested the Russian military’s use of hard-to-detect missiles or potential technical issues could be to blame. Trump, facing crunch mid-term elections next month, has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for the squeeze on fuel supplies and increase in prices at the pump. But most experts say the real reason is the joint US and Israeli attacks on Iran since late February, which have seen Tehran block off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for oil and gas shipments. ‘Disrespect’ Ballistic missiles have now struck the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for two nights running, before air raid sirens could sound in time to warn people to take cover in basements, bomb shelters or metro stations. Fifteen people were killed around the country in the latest round of strikes, while significant damage to energy facilities and equipment knocked out power to swathes of Kyiv. Power plants came under ballistic-missile attack in the eastern Kharkiv region, while Zhytomyr in the northwest, Sumy in the northeast and Chernigiv in the north were also hit.
“Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States,” said Zelensky, accusing Moscow of squandering a chance to ease hostilities.
Russia has previously targeted Ukraine’s power stations and heating infrastructure, crippling supplies before winter, when temperatures can plummet to as low as -20C. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
