Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he feels personally betrayed by Donald Trump after Ukraine's military lost full use of the Starlink satellite communications system, accusing the US president of picking the other side in a war now in its fifth year. The Ukrainian president made the remarks during a visit to London, where relations were already strained by the US agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow.

The Starlink restriction

Ukraine's military reported overnight that Starlink - produced by Elon Musk's SpaceX but managed by the US government - stopped working at speeds greater than 100mph, without explanation. The effect on the battlefield was immediate:

• •Most Ukrainian drones used to strike behind the frontlines were rendered inoperable.
• •The restriction hit the most effective air defence system for stopping Russian jet-powered attack drones bombing Kyiv.
• •Serhiy Beskrestnov, a military technology adviser to Zelenskyy, said terminals travelling above 100mph on a military or national security version of Starlink suddenly lost connectivity.
• •The armed forces received no warning, which Beskrestnov said caused the failure of a number of missions, and he connected the move to the political situation.

Beskrestnov said Ukraine's partners were depriving the country of one of its few chances of defence, pointing to the interceptors used against jet-powered Shahed drones. Interception rates against those drones had already dropped from more than 90% to about 60% after Russia upgraded them to jet power in the early summer.

The restriction also complicates medium-range mid-strike drones, though it has no impact on deep strikes against Russian oil refineries, because Kyiv is banned from using Starlink to hit targets inside Russia. The Ukrainian military is linked to a related network called Starshield, which is operated by the US government.

'Really, yes': Zelenskyy on Trump

Asked directly whether he felt betrayed by Trump, Zelenskyy replied: "Really, yes … but it's a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or my feelings." He added: "It's a pity that we are losing, we are losing a strong partner."

He went further in an interview with Piers Morgan, saying he was certain the blocking of Starlink at 1am was deliberate. "I am sure they knew what they did, absolutely. Because it was 1am at night, Starlink was blocked by SpaceX and the United States," he said. He warned of the cost to Ukrainians: "This decision will bring a lot of human losses … of course, people will die."

Musk, for his part, said the decision was not his: "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."

Strikes and intelligence

The outage came as Russia launched ballistic missiles at Ukraine for a second night without any advance warning from the US, which had long provided strike intelligence. Trump denied cutting intelligence sharing on Tuesday, but Zelenskyy said in an NPR interview aired on Wednesday that his military advisers had received threats from the US that intelligence sharing could be limited in the future.

Zelenskyy said Russia struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure late on Tuesday with 39 ballistic missiles and 120 attack drones against Kyiv and Kharkiv. The strikes hit five big power plants, key substations and other infrastructure, leaving at least 600,000 people without power, with outages that could spread.

Trump announced an unconfirmed "energy ceasefire" last week; Zelenskyy said he had not heard of the deal until Trump announced it on his Truth Social site. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the truce proposed by Trump was not specified in detail, so it cannot be claimed that Russia is failing to observe it.

London meetings

Prime minister Andy Burnham met Zelenskyy in Downing Street on Wednesday, hours after telling MPs the Ukrainian president "would not leave empty-handed" and that he had tasked officials with drawing up further sanctions. Zelenskyy had met King Charles at Buckingham Palace earlier the same day, and said before the meeting that he hoped to raise access to Starlink and intelligence sharing.

At No 10, Burnham promised that Britain's support would remain constant. "You have seen the solidarity and the support you have got from everybody here in Britain. We are behind you and that will not change," he said. He also pledged to accelerate the supply of British lightweight multi-role missiles, used against Russian drone strikes, and said he was seeking all possible avenues of further support.

On Trump's proposed ceasefire covering attacks on energy infrastructure, Burnham said he was prepared to discuss it but acknowledged Moscow had not abided by it. "Sadly, what we have seen from Russia is further attacks on critical national infrastructure in Ukraine," he said. At PMQs he said he wanted to be careful about criticism of Trump, describing himself as laying the ground for a reconciliation, and told MPs: "I will listen to President Zelenskyy carefully, but he won't be going away from Britain today empty-handed."

The Downing Street meeting lasted just over an hour, began with a hug, and the two men posed for photographs flanked by Irish Guards in full ceremonial uniform.