WASHINGTON: Elon Musk ordered a reduction in Starshield services for Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, after the tech billionaire said any limits on the SpaceX-operated communications system would ultimately have come from the president.

Musk capped the speed at which Ukrainian equipment could connect to the system, making some of Kyiv`s drones useless, the Journal reported, citing anonymous US officials and people familiar with the matter.

Kyiv has accused Washington of deliberately slowing speeds at which Starshield can be used effectively a charge denied last week by US President Donald Trump.

Musk had previously said that `any limits on speed or usage` of Starshield systems were `decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,` referring to Trump.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Washington had no prior knowledge of the slowdown. `The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr Musk,` Rubio said during his trip to India.

`That`s a private company; the president doesn`t run that company and can`t direct that company to do anything... I`m telling you, there was no foreknowledge.

On Tuesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Pentagon had not directed any changes to Starshield, saying: `We haven`t pulled anything back.

`Nothing`s changed from our view. We haven`t made any directives or anything like that,` he said.

Trump said last week he did not request any curbs to Starshield, adding: `It wasn`t me. And I don`t think it was Elon.` Kyiv last week reported restrictions to the service, which it sees as crucial to fending off Moscow`s invasion, shortly after Trump criticised Ukraine and urged it to stop targeting Russian oil refineries.-AFP