Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, Palm Beach, Florida, December 28, 2025 (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
EA on Australia’s ABC: Ukraine — Russia’s War in the Black Sea
Thursday’s Coverage: Zelensky — Trump Has “Betrayed” Us
The White House issued the order to limit Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, earlier this week, according to “two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter”.
The restriction scuttled Ukrainian missions on the frontline and undermined Ukraine’s air defenses, putting civilians and US personnel at risk from Russia’s missile and drone strikes.
The officials said leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed. They did not identify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order.
A “senior US official” denied that the request came from Donald Trump.
Ukrainian officials said service had been restored on Thursday. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and UK counterpart Wes Streeting, meeting in Washington, highlighted the restoration. They did not explain the cause of the outage although Streeting said, “This is not the first time we’ve seen a falling out between Washington and Kyiv.”
Allies rallied behind Ukraine at a European Union summit in Brussels, attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said it was “crucial” that Ukraine receive “all the means necessary to protect itself” after meeting Zelensky. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted, “I can reassure you, dear Ukrainian friends and President Zelensky: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.”
On Thursday, after the latest Russian strikes, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky also referred to the cutoff of early-warning intelligence and Donald Trump’s agreement to purchase Russian diesel fuel:
It is important that our partners help us defend against this. Residential buildings, stores, energy and other critical infrastructure are under attack virtually nonstop. Not a single hour of peace.
What is happening is Russia’s pointed response to the signals it is receiving from America. Unfortunately, there are dangerous signals about the possibility of further sanctions relief.
