US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky irresponsible on Sunday, 18 October, in an interview with NBC. Zelensky has accused Washington of being behind restrictions on the military version of the Starlink satellite network in Ukraine. Bessent said Zelensky should take great care before making claims that do not match reality.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio went further in denying any US role. He said the US did not order Starlink to be slowed in Ukraine and that the White House had nothing to do with the restrictions. Rubio did concede that speed problems had affected SpaceX satellites, a point the Telegraph reported in its headline.
Ukrainian military personnel complained of failures in the Starlink communication system, according to SIC Notícias. Ukraine says the restrictions have hampered its drone defences. Reuters reported that the decision to restrict the system came from the White House, a version Washington disputes.
Zelensky said in the NBC interview that information sharing had been blocked for a period and was then unblocked by the US side. He said the gap lasted three days, during Russian ballistic attacks, and thanked Washington for ending it. He added that the system was now working again. Diario de Noticias reported that the blockage had made it harder for Ukraine to respond to the Russian strikes.
US President Donald Trump accused Kyiv of wanting to hit Russian oil refineries. Notícias ao Minuto reported that he linked Ukrainian actions to rising global fuel prices, which have been worsened by the war in the Middle East that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
SIC Notícias described the episode as the lowest point in relations between the official US administration and Ukraine. It framed the rift as a near break between the Zelensky administration and part of the Trump team, with personal problems carrying strong consequences for strategy and tactics in the conflict next to the European Union. Bessent's and Rubio's denials leave the question of who imposed the restrictions unresolved in the sources.
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Scott Bessent called Zelensky's accusations irresponsible on Sunday, 18 October, while Zelensky told NBC that US intelligence sharing with Kyiv had been restored after three days.
AI text based on reports by La Libre.be, SIC Notícias, The Telegraph and other publishers. Published .