Trump Claimed Musk Fully Restored Ukraine’s Access to a Key Satellite System. Kyiv Says Not Quite.

President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that Ukraine's access to Starshield, a key satellite system used by the country to conduct the war against Russia, had been fully restored by Elon Musk after facing restrictions for days.

"Whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference, I guess. The bottom line – he put it back," Trump said.

However, a Ukrainian official said that is not the case yet. "At this time, we are not observing any lifting of restrictions on Starlink,"said Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"There are isolated cases where Starlink may operate slightly faster than the restrictions allow, but this is likely due to the SpaceX algorithm or specific usage conditions, rather than a lifting of the restrictions," he added.

The Wall Street Journal detailed on Thursday that Trump called Musk to restore Ukraine's access to Starshield. A previous report from the outlet had claimed that Musk's involvement in the slowing down of Starshield was larger than previously disclosed. He had held several conversations with White House officials before making a decision to restrict Starshield.

The outlet went on to note that Musk wanted clarity on Trump's thinking on the matter before moving forward, as he has shown unease about SpaceX being seen as profiting from the war.

Musk had appeared to point at the Trump administration last week after the restrictions went into place, saying "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."

However, the report also noted that some officials in the White House were surprised about the development, as neither Trump nor the Pentagon ordered restrictions to the service, which severely hampered the country's ability to wage aerial war.

"We haven't pulled anything back. There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to. And that's where Starlink has the option to make those decisions, but nothing's changed from our view. We haven't made any directives or anything like that," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said about the matter.

The latest reports stand in contrast with one from Reuters, which claimed last week that the decision came from the White House. Leaders at the Defense Department, the outlet said, got a message saying that the system needed to be slowed down. They did not specify who made the decision or relayed the order.

Ukraine is facing wartime challenges on different fronts. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that the Trump administration is holding up key missiles that Europe has already paid for.

Speaking with U.S. senators on Monday, Zelenskyy said the Pentagon is "delaying the delivery of" Patriot missiles, which Kyiv uses to intercept Russian projectiles.