WASHINGTON, February 22. /TASS/. The United States is considering disconnecting Ukraine from the Starlink satellite communication system as one of the measures to pressure Kiev into concluding a deal on rare-earth minerals, Reuters reported, citing sources.
According to its information, the issue of granting Ukraine further access to the system in connection with the conclusion of an agreement on minerals has already been raised by Washington in negotiations with Kiev after the refusal of Vladimir Zelensky from the initial proposal of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The US side raised it again on Thursday at a meeting between US presidential envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg and Zelensky.
According to Reuters, the US told the Ukrainian side that the country would be "immediately shut off" from Starlink if Zelensky again rejected the mineral deal. "Ukraine runs on Starlink. Losing Starlink would be a massive blow," a source told the news agency. Reuters explained that Starlink is actively used by the Ukrainian military to maintain communication.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Washington and Kiev were close to signing an agreement.
Zelensky, in a video message published on his Telegram channel on Friday, expressed hope for a "fair result" on the agreement with the United States on rare-earth metals in Ukraine. Work on the draft document continues, he said.
In early February, Trump said that Washington was interested in obtaining rare-earth metals from Ukraine. Zelensky, in turn, noted his readiness to make a deal and suggested that the outcome of negotiations on this issue could be determined at the Munich Security Conference on February 14-16. However, on February 14 in Munich, the Kiev authorities rejected the US administration's plan to help Ukraine in exchange for Washington's right to 50% of Ukraine's rare-earth metals. At the same time, Zelensky pointed out that there were no security guarantees in the proposed agreement. Kiev said it was working on a counterproposal.