Rubio says Ukraine Starshield request under discussion

Starshield military access

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Washington is discussing Ukraine's request for access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite communications system, though he emphasized that Kyiv does not currently have access to the service. Rubio distinguished the military-focused Starshield from Starlink, the commercial internet service also operated by SpaceX, noting that the former remains exclusively a US military contract.

"It's not at this moment available to Ukraine, and that's under conversation," Rubio said, adding that Starshield "has nothing to do with Ukraine" under current arrangements. Ukrainian officials have requested the capabilities to conduct deep strikes inside Russian territory, and "it's under discussion right now of how they would want to use it," he said.

Starlink disruption denied

Asked whether reported disruptions to Starlink services on Wednesday were deliberate, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had suggested, Rubio rejected the allegation. "I'm not sure Zelenskyy knows what he's talking about, but it wasn't deliberate. We have nothing to do with that," Rubio said, calling suggestions of White House involvement "categorically false."

US President Donald Trump on Friday also denied ordering any suspension of the service, telling reporters at the White House: "It wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon." The reported restrictions on US-made Starlink terminals had slowed some Ukrainian drones on the battlefield Wednesday, according to Ukrainian officials. Zelenskyy had also said that Kyiv did not receive the usual advance warning from Western partners about recent Russian ballistic missile strikes targeting the capital.