President Volodymyr Zelensky said this while speaking with journalists, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
“In the first half of this year, I received a request from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to find a way to reach an agreement with President Trump on using Starlink in the Russian Federation for our defense purposes. Because the SpaceX company, headed by Elon Musk, had apparently already given the go-ahead for this — at least that is what I was told — and it supposedly needed to be approved at the political level. I received the relevant information, made an inquiry, and met with the President of the United States. I am grateful to the President of America — we had a long conversation on this issue. I was able to assure him that this would help help bring the war to an end sooner by reducing Russia’s ability to prolong it.” Since I had received this information from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, I told the President of America that Musk had confirmed to us that such use was permitted,” the president said.
According to Zelensky, representatives of the two delegations tried to contact Musk, but he did not answer their calls at the time. At the same time, during a subsequent meeting, Trump said that SpaceX had denied Ukraine permission to use Starlink in Russia because of the potential for escalation against Russia.
At the same time, the head of state emphasized that Ukraine is continuing its dialogue with Trump and the U.S. side on the issue.
“Today, it is all in the hands of the President of the United States, and they are having their own internal discussions. I did what I was asked to do. I did it during two meetings,” Zelensky said.
The president also noted that he had involved other world leaders in promoting the idea.
Earlier, media outlets reported that Trump had not supported Ukraine’s request for his assistance in obtaining Musk’s permission to use Starlink for Ukrainian long-range drones in Russia.
Photo via Office of the President