WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Britain’s defense minister said he and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed the restoration of the Starlink service in Ukraine in talks on Thursday, and he stressed the need to move forward in supporting Kyiv following renewed discord between the US and Ukrainian leaders.
In an appearance on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” Wes Streeting said it was “not the first time we’ve seen a falling out between President Trump and President Zelenskiy.”
“It is, I think, important after events of recent days that we move forward in a collective spirit,” he said, adding that he had quoted Saint Francis of Assisi in his meeting with Hegseth at the Pentagon: “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.”
“The UK sees our role and responsibility at times like this to bring our friends back together again,” Streeting said.
“We need President Trump engaged on Ukraine. He has been, and the diplomatic track is as important in ending the war as making sure Ukraine has the weapons it needs to see off Russian aggression,” he said.
Ukraine said Elon Musk’s SpaceX had restricted Starlink services on Wednesday, hampering the country’s attack and air-defense drone missions as worsening ties with Washington have fueled concerns over US battlefield support.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX , which operates Starlink, said the US government controlled the system’s speeds.
Streeting was asked if the Pentagon restricted offensive and defensive capability for Ukraine in order to prevent strikes on Russian energy installations.
He replied, referring to his talks with Hegseth: “That’s not my understanding. We didn’t really get into why the service interruption had happened. We did reflect briefly on the fact that it had been restored and welcome that.”
Streeting said he was not going to speculate on why the interruption happened.
He said his conversation with Hegseth was “very much about looking forward and building on the support that the UK, the US, and our allies have given to Ukraine, helping over what will be a challenging winter period to hold the line.”
Trump has long had a testy relationship with Zelenskiy and publicly berated him in the White House in February 2025. But his sharp turn against Kyiv in recent days has little precedent. He first angered Ukraine last week by abruptly lifting sanctions on Russian diesel, and then called for Zelenskiy to be replaced.
Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, after Zelenskiy said Kyiv was “done” supporting a ceasefire on energy targets announced by Trump and ignored by Russia.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward and David Brunnstrom in Washington, Editing by Franklin Paul and Rosalba O’Brien)
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