Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a misunderstanding with US President Donald Trump over the use of the Starlink satellite system. This was reported by infohub.kz.
According to Zelensky, in early 2026, Ukraine's Defense Ministry asked him to negotiate with the American leader about the possibility of using Starlink on Russian territory for military purposes. The Ukrainian side expected that SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, had already given preliminary consent, and only political confirmation was needed.
"SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, had seemingly given the go-ahead — as I was told, and it seemed that it needed to be coordinated at the political level. I received the information, made a request, and held a meeting with the US president," Zelensky said.
During the first meeting, Zelensky told Trump that Musk had confirmed readiness to provide Ukraine with access to Starlink for these purposes. The sides agreed that the American side would hold internal consultations if SpaceX was ready for such a step. However, at the second meeting, Trump said that the Ukrainian leader had "seemingly deceived" him.
"Then I had a second meeting with the US president. He said that I had seemingly deceived him, because Musk had refused Ukraine the use of Starlink on Russian territory. I returned to our Defense Ministry, and they said that maybe it was so..." Zelensky noted.
According to information available to Zelensky, Elon Musk considers expanding the use of Starlink to Russian territory as potentially a major escalation and emphasizes that he advocates ending the war, not continuing it.