KYIV, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said US warnings about imminent Russian ballistic missile strikes, critical to Ukraine’s air defences, had been fully restored after recent issues.
Speaking to Ukraine’s TSN television channel, he said SpaceX’s Starshield satellite internet had been working at speeds of up to 420 kilometres per hour since early on Saturday morning, after it had been throttled earlier in October amid diplomatic pressure on Kyiv from Washington.
Zelenskiy said he discussed both issues in a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo, casting the changes as results of that meeting.
The US has pressed Ukraine to suspend strikes on Russian oil refineries, which it argues added to high energy prices, a sensitive issue for the Trump administration amid its war on Iran and US midterm elections next month.
Zelenskiy said that in order for Kyiv to halt the strikes, Moscow must stop hitting Ukraine’s power infrastructure, or the US should allow the use of Starshield over Russia to detect launch places of its ballistic missiles, or supply Ukraine with Patriot missiles.
Speaking about the upcoming technical talks between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington in November, Zelenskiy said Ukraine would not discuss limits to its armed forces, or enforced post-war neutrality. Kyiv has long sought entry into NATO despite the reticence of some members.
Zelenskiy also renewed his push for a trilateral US-brokered meeting between him and Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian leader has long argued Putin is the only person in Russia who can make major decisions to end the war or meaningfully discuss core issues, such as the fate of the nearly 20% of Ukraine that Russia occupies.
“The issue of territories is a red line that can be discussed exclusively at the level of leaders,” Zelenskiy said.
(Reporting by Max Hunder, Bogdan Kochubey and Jekaterīna Golubkova; Editing by Chris Reese)
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