Reuters, citing two U.S. officials and a Western official, reports that an order to limit the “Starshield” satellite system for Ukraine was issued from within the White House.

According to these officials, the officials in the U.S. Department of Defense were instructed that they must reduce the service speed of the Starshield, which is provided by the company SpaceX and is in the possession of the Ukrainian army.

The Ukrainian army uses the Starshield service— the military version of Starlink satellite internet— for communications on the battlefield and for drone operations.

According to Reuters, these military officials did not specify who in the White House made this decision.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official said: “No such request has ever been raised by the president.”

Ukrainian officials earlier this week said that Starshield military receivers malfunction when installed on “high-speed objects.”

This causes disruption to the performance of Ukrainian drones that rely on these receivers for their internal guidance systems within Ukrainian airspace.

📷Reuters