A war of words has erupted between the Trump administration, officials in Kyiv and Elon Musk over who is to blame for limiting Ukraine’s access to Space X’s military-grade version of Starlink.
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who → erupt → Starlink
The restrictions to Starshield have rendered many of the drones used by Kyiv to strike behind the frontlines inoperable and hampered air defence systems that stop Russian attacks, according to Ukrainian officials.
The US president said on Thursday that the service was running again at full speed, but a European official speaking to the Associated Press denied the service was fully functioning.
What has Trump said?
Trump initially denied any responsibility for the changes to Starshield, telling reporters last Friday: “I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” referring to Musk, SpaceX’s CEO.
Trump’s cabinet backed him up, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday: “What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to that system be made.”
Rubio, however, also made a comment that threw suspicion on to Musk, the world’s richest man.
The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr Musk.
uncertain
that → render → Musk
That’s a private company.
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That → ’ → ?
The president doesn’t run that company and can’t direct that company to do anything.
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president → run → anything
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US president had asked Musk to restore the service, with Trump later telling reporters the system was “back”.
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system → report → reporters
He refused to comment on whether he had spoken to Musk, but appeared to suggest the ultimate power to limit the service rested with the SpaceX CEO.
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power → refuse → CEO
“I guess the bottom line, he put it back,” Trump said, referring to Musk.
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Trump → guess → Musk
However, John Cornyn, a Republican who is in his final weeks as the US senator for Texas, told US media that he didn’t believe Musk would have acted “without at least the acquiescence of the White House”.
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Musk → tell → House
Musk has supported Trump’s calls for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced and has been highly critical of the Ukrainian president.
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Zelenskyy → support → president
However, he was quick to blame the limits on Starshield on the Trump administration, writing on X last week that the systems were “owned and controlled by the US government”.
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systems → blame → government
Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.
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limits → decide → military
Musk – one of the Republican party’s biggest donors and a Trump ally – continued to deny responsibility for the changes.
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Musk → continue → changes
However, on Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk made the order to slow down Starshield, with the paper’s sources in disagreement over whether this was made in concert with Trump.
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this → report → Trump
Vice-president JD Vance backed Musk on Thursday, saying the billionaire “doesn’t want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do”.
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government → back → what
So I don’t think this is about Elon.
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this → think → Elon
I think it’s fundamentally what is America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be.
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policy → think → Ukraine
Amid the war of words, civilian casualties in Ukraine have surged, and the question over who is ultimately responsible for limiting Kyiv’s access has remained unanswered.
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who → surge → access
Good morning and welcome to our Europe live blog, where we’ll begin in Ukraine.
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we → welcome → Ukraine
Local authorities reported explosions overnight in Lutsk, a city not far from the Polish border, and in the central Poltava and southern Sumy regions.
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authorities → report → regions
Russia this morning has also claimed strikes on ships in the Black Sea.
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Russia → claim → Sea
Both sides engaged in heavy strikes yesterday with Russia bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles and Ukraine sending swarms of drones to Moscow.
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Ukraine → engage → Moscow
Trump has declared that Starlink is once again running at full speed across Ukraine after the service was throttled last week -but Ukrainian and European officials say they haven’t seen that speed and functionality resume.
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speed → declare → Ukraine
The satellite service was still only operating at a cap of 161km/hr, crippling key air defences and limiting mid-range strikes, a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent after Trump’s comments.
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official → operate → comments
“Overall, nothing has changed anywhere,” the paper quoted the unnamed official saying.
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official → change → ?
Elsewhere we’re watching this continued wave of student-led protests across Europe.
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we → watch → Europe
From Rome to Athens, Madrid and Paris, young people are venting their anger over the lack of resources in schools as well as wider housing and cost-of-living concerns.
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people → vent → living
They’ve often been joined by their teachers in these ralies.
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They → join → ralies
Fearing another weekend of street marches descending into violence and looting, French authorities have banned some protests over the coming days.
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authorities → fear → days
President Emmanuel Macron, just returned from his mid-week tour to the Gulf states, is due to meet with student leaders around lunchtime in Paris.
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Macron → return → Paris
It’s Frances Mao today in London, covering for Jakub, stay with me for all the developments.
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It → ’ → developments
The Aporia
