Burnham presses Trump on Ukraine’s Starlink access in phone call

Downing Street says Andy Burnham "underlined the importance for Ukraine to have full access to Starlink" during a phone call with Donald Trump on Friday.

The Prime Minister addressed the issue directly with the US president after constraints were put on Kyiv’s utilization of Elon Musk’s satellite communications system.

Ukraine heavily depends on Starlink to assist in intercepting Russian missile and drone strikes, but experienced bandwidth restrictions last week that notably diminished its defensive capabilities.

Although Mr Musk implied that the direction to place limits on the network originated from the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported that the tech billionaire personally directed the throttling.

Outlining Friday’s discussion between the British and American leaders, a No 10 spokeswoman stated: "The Prime Minister spoke to the President of the United States of America Donald Trump today.

"The Prime Minister underlined the importance for Ukraine to have full access to Starlink so they can continue to defend themselves against Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Prime Minister recognised the work of President Trump to bring Putin to the negotiation table and the leaders agreed to work together, alongside international partners, to bring an end to the bloodshed."

Mr Burnham pledged Britain’s continued support for Ukraine last week, saying it “will not change” as he welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to Downing Street.

Speaking during a visit to the North West, he said: “I was proud of the reception that the UK gave to the Ukrainian president yesterday. It was actually quite emotional to be in Downing Street and hear the cheers for him coming through the gates and coming through the Foreign Office. It was quite amazing actually, and I could see how personally moved he was by that.

“Obviously, it’s been a difficult few days for President Zelensky, and that’s why I invited him to the UK to give him that lift, and to see what more we could do. We obviously have close conversations with our US counterparts, and what I’m going to do is build that bridge and make sure that we’re still all working together to support Ukraine.”