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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Martin Belam

First Thing: US ‘betrayal’ over Starlink undermines Ukrainian defense

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, in London. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Good morning. Ukraine’s president has said he feels “betrayed” by Donald Trump over a throttling of Starlink access. Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the US president of picking the other side after more than four years of war, risking a breakdown in US-Ukraine relations.

Ukraine’s military reported that the communications system, produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, was no longer working on terminals moving at speeds greater than 100mph. That effectively rendered most of the drones used by Ukraine to strike behind the frontlines inoperable and affected the country’s best air defence system to stop Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Kyiv.

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