Ukraine asking US, SpaceX and NATO to clarify Starlink limitations

Ukraine's presidential office says some Starlink internet terminals seem to have been restricted overnight, disrupting Ukrainian defense forces. That comes as air raid sirens rang out over Kiev Tuesday night as Moscow targeted a number of energy facilities in the Ukrainian capital. Some 600,000 people were left without power. We're going to talk more about this now with Angela Diffley, who joins me on set. Angela, let's talk a bit more about the use of Starlink by the Ukrainians. Tell us a bit more about that. Yeah, we've just heard that Kiev is hoping to or is planning to ask for clarification about what's going on with Starlink and its access to it. They want that from SpaceX, run by Elon Musk, who of course owns SpaceX and Starlink, and also Washington and NATO, because NATO also is involved in access to Starlink. So they want to know what is going on, because it appears that during the night, without any warning, the signal would come and go. Starlink is attached to drones to guide them and it is particularly useful because those drones can go at a higher speed. If they go at a lower speed, then they are much more easily shot down. At a higher speed, they are more effective. And at this higher speed, the signal kept disappearing. So the Ukrainians want to know what happened there and if it's likely to happen again. And is this a change of policy? The Ukrainians tend to use these Starlink guided drones to target Russian supply routes particularly. And that has been used to great effect by the Ukrainians. This will be a big blow if it is to happen again. And, of course, the worry is in Kiev that Elon Musk, who is a great friend of Donald Trump and who spoke out at the weekend saying that President Zelensky of Ukraine has gone way too far, he said on his own X social media platform. He said that, you know, Zelensky had gone way too far. And is this Elon Musk in cahoots with Donald Trump trying to stymie Ukrainian efforts? So Donald Trump is denying that the U.S. is no longer sharing intelligence with Ukraine, but Kiev seems to think that is what's happening. What's behind all of that? Yeah, this is a separate issue almost. The Americans, although they supply little weaponry and have done for a long time now, it is Europe that is paying for most of the weaponry and equipment for Ukraine. The Americans throughout this war have shared valuable, vital intelligence with the Ukrainians. And for the second night running last night, there was a massive Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure and no warning from Ukraine's intelligence partners. This the American very sophisticated system they have of sharing intelligence is usually very valuable to Ukraine. It allows them to give their citizens ample warning so that they can head to air raid shelters and it saves lives. And on two occasions, on the last two nights, there has been no warning. And at the weekend, it was reported, a number of news outlets reported that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who are currently, of course, in talks with the Ukrainians, had said bluntly, if you the ukrainians do not agree to an energy ceasefire which is something that uh trump said was in place although uh nobody seems to know anything about it if you do not do that uh we will withdraw intelligence cooperation the ukrainians are really worried that that is now what's happening angela thank you for that france 24 is angela diffley