Bessent warns Zelenskyy to 'be very careful' about claims U.S. is throttling Starlink

Key points

• Bessent warned Zelenskyy to be careful about claims the U.S. throttled Starlink in Ukraine.
• Zelenskyy said on Meet the Press that Ukraine was blocked from U.S. intelligence for a period.
• Musk said the U.S. government and Trump are ultimately responsible for limits on Starshield.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "be very careful" about public statements on U.S. support for Ukraine, after Starlink internet provided by the U.S. recently slowed in Ukraine and hindered the country's ability to respond to Russian assaults.

In an earlier interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Zelenskyy said he believed the U.S. government was responsible for the slowdown and that Ukraine was "blocked" from U.S. intelligence for a period of time.

Bessent rejects the charge

Speaking on Meet the Press, Bessent said President Donald Trump and Secretary Marco Rubio have categorically said no one under the Trump administration did that, and called Zelenskyy's charge "very reckless." He added that Zelenskyy should be very careful about making statements that aren't true.

President Zelenskyy should be very careful about making statements like this that aren't true

— Scott Bessent

Musk on Starshield limits

Starlink is high-speed satellite internet provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX and is critical to Ukraine's defense. Musk said in a post on X last week that the U.S. government and Trump are "ultimately" responsible for any slowdowns to the military version, Starshield.

Musk wrote that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government, and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately POTUS. Trump said last week he did not know if it was anybody because it wasn't him, and he did not think it was Musk, adding that from what he understands it is the same as it has always been.