Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / White House ordered Starlink limits on Ukraine’s military

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White House ordered Starlink limits on Ukraine’s military · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Reuters reports that in order to slow down the Starshield
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drones
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: came from inside the White House. Reuters sources didn't specify
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: who in the White House made the decision or who
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: was responsible for implementing the order. But yesterday, SpaceX CEO
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Elon Musk pointed his finger at Trump. Quote, Starshield systems
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  Speaker 1: are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits
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  Speaker 1: on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately POTUS. Tonight, two U.S. officials tell CNN that
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the order to limit Starshield for Ukraine did not come
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  Speaker 1: from the president.
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  Speaker 2: Joining me now, David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst. David,
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  Speaker 2: when we look at where things stand right now, President
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  Speaker 2: Zelensky just a short time ago in Brussels for a
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  Speaker 2: summit praising European leaders upon arrival there, talking about their
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: huge support. How precarious is the situation right now for Ukraine,
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  Speaker 2: given President Trump's clear dissatisfaction, to put it mildly?
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  Speaker 3: Well, Erica, it's quite precarious for three reasons. The first is,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: as CNN and others have reported, the Ukrainians have basically
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: run out of the interceptors they need to stop these
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: missiles and drones from coming in. And they didn't have
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  Speaker 3: very many for the past couple of months, which is
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: why you've seen so many Russian attacks strike in Kyiv
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and other places. The second reason is that for some
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: reason that the White House will not describe the And
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: others will not describe the Starlink and StarShield, the Pentagon
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: version of Starlink communications that Ukraine uses to target its
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  Speaker 3: own attacks and to see what's coming, has been throttled
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: and in some cases went down. It may be back now,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: but that was a reminder of how dependent they are
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  Speaker 3: on this U.S. technology. But the third reason, Eric, I
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  Speaker 3: think is the most important. which is that the United States,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: which for the first three years of the war was
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  Speaker 3: fundamentally on Ukraine's side, appears to have switched. It is
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: no longer just a mediator. It is saying that the U.S.,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: in order to get diesel prices down, in order to
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: boost Republican chances in the coming election, is basically going
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: to start buying diesel from Ukraine. from Russia, even if
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: the amounts aren't really big enough to make a difference
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: to the markets.
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  Speaker 2: And, of course, beyond the optics, the concerns there that
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  Speaker 2: we have heard from President Zelensky, but I will point
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  Speaker 2: out also from a number of folks who in this
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: country talk about that money, right, that could then be
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  Speaker 2: used for Russia to help fuel the war is a
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  Speaker 2: significant concern.
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  Speaker 4: Is there.
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  Speaker 2: Is there any more insight this morning into what it
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  Speaker 2: is that has prompted this shift back, I should say,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: for President Trump, who is now very clearly once again
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  Speaker 2: unhappy with Vladimir Zelensky? And once again, a lot of
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  Speaker 2: what we hear from the president seems to be parroting
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  Speaker 2: Russian talking points.
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  Speaker 3: It does. And, you know, at every point along the
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  Speaker 3: way since President Trump came to office— what, 20 months ago,
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  Speaker 3: he has gravitated toward Putin and toward the Russians. You remember,
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  Speaker 3: of course, the famous blow-up in the Oval Office, right,
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  Speaker 3: where he said to President Zelensky, you don't have the cards.
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  Speaker 3: In other words, why are you facing off with a
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  Speaker 3: big superpower when you have nothing to play with, right,
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  Speaker 3: nothing to offer? Well, Zelensky went out and created himself
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  Speaker 3: some cards. Those cards were basically the drones that can
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  Speaker 3: reach the Russian refineries. And now the president is saying, no, no,
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  Speaker 3: you can't use those in your operations against Russia, it's
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: causing too much disruption in the energy markets. You know,
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  Speaker 3: this is the opposite approach, Erica, that he's been taking
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  Speaker 3: with Iran, where he's saying the only way to deal
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  Speaker 3: with them is to starve them out, do the blockade,
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  Speaker 3: make sure they can't ship any oil. And with Russia,
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  Speaker 3: he says the way to deal with them is to
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  Speaker 3: show them that in the future they may be able
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  Speaker 3: to ship that oil.
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  Speaker 2: It is fascinating. Real quickly, before I let you go,
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  Speaker 2: you also mentioned the Starlink, Starshield, as it's called, the
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: military version, the Starlink questions. Reuters is reporting that the
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: decision to limit Ukraine's accident for Starlink for military purposes
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  Speaker 2: was coming from within the White House. It's also fascinating,
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  Speaker 2: of course, we can't ignore the fact that this is
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  Speaker 2: Elon Musk's company. Does this also speak to the level
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  Speaker 2: of potential engagement from Elon Musk?
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  Speaker 3: Well, it may. We believe that Star Shield, the military
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  Speaker 3: version of it, is controlled just by the Pentagon. But
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  Speaker 3: we don't have a clear understanding yet of what happened
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: or why the service came back. But we do understand
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  Speaker 3: one thing. You know, I saw Prime Minister Carney a
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  Speaker 3: few weeks ago with some New York Times colleagues. And
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  Speaker 3: one of the things he said to us was he
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  Speaker 3: wasn't going to let Canada become dependent on Starlink because
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  Speaker 3: it can be turned on and off at the whim
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  Speaker 3: of the United States. Well, he's just gotten his evidence.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. David, always great to talk to you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: Great to see you.
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  Speaker 1: My intelligence source tonight is Beth Sanner, former deputy director
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  Speaker 1: of national intelligence, along with my White House insider, Jeff Mason,
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  Speaker 1: White House correspondent for Bloomberg. Beth, what's your reaction to
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  Speaker 1: this reporting?
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  Speaker 5: I'm not surprised, given that no one really raised their
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  Speaker 5: hand over the last day or so about who was
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: actually responsible. So, you know, I think that... These reporters
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: do really good reporting, and I think that it's probably true. And,
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  Speaker 5: you know, to me, this implication of this is, you know,
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  Speaker 5: it's following through in a way on the threat to
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  Speaker 5: cut them off of intelligence, threat to cut them off
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  Speaker 5: from selling weapons to the Europeans to give to them.
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  Speaker 5: And it has just serious implications, right? I mean, it's
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  Speaker 5: one thing to say, like, oh, I'm siding with Putin, right,
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  Speaker 5: which is clear, but it's another thing to literally make
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  Speaker 5: the Ukrainian military crippled in their capabilities to protect themselves,
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  Speaker 5: to defend themselves from the aggressor. And, you know, people
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  Speaker 5: on the front lines, you know, could very well die
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  Speaker 5: from this.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff, who but the president would send this order to
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  Speaker 1: the Pentagon if it came from the White House, but
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  Speaker 1: not directly from Trump?
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  Speaker 6: I can't think of anyone else. I mean, I don't
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  Speaker 6: know who gave the order or, you know, the White
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  Speaker 6: House denied it to Bloomberg today as well as they
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  Speaker 6: did to CNN. But I think What's important to think
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  Speaker 6: about right now and just talk about is the context.
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  Speaker 6: And the context is the president is definitely in a
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  Speaker 6: tiff again, and that's not a strong enough word, with
• 7:02
  Speaker 6: Zelensky and has been very critical of him in the
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  Speaker 6: last week or two and blames him for the fact
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  Speaker 6: that energy prices aren't coming down because he feels that
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  Speaker 6: Zelensky is not following up on what the president viewed
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: as a deal to not attack energy resources in Russia.
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  Speaker 6: By the way, Russia is also not abiding by what
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: President Trump has considered a deal, although they did agree
• 7:25
  Speaker 6: to a deal on diesel, which again, to use the
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: word context, is coming in the context of the midterm
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  Speaker 6: elections and the fact that high diesel prices are really
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  Speaker 6: hurting President Trump politically. So that's the universe in which
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  Speaker 6: this decision was made, even if we don't know exactly
• 7:40
  Speaker 6: the details as to who made it or why.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: An energy ceasefire, we should point out, that President Trump
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  Speaker 1: announced apparently without either nation being aware that this is
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  Speaker 1: something that he was going to announce.
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  Speaker 7: Russia and Ukraine trading strikes overnight, targeting each other's energy sites.
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  Speaker 7: This comes as a source now tells CNN Ukraine has
• 7:58
  Speaker 7: run out of missiles for the U.S.-made Patriot air defense
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: missile system. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is in Brussels
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  Speaker 7: this morning. He's been meeting with European and NATO leaders
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  Speaker 7: as he tries to shore up support amid the ongoing
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  Speaker 7: war and a very bitter and escalating public feud with
• 8:16
  Speaker 7: President Trump.
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  Speaker 8: I'm so thankful that we have such huge support from EU,
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  Speaker 8: Council Commission and leaders, real leaders, so that they stay
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  Speaker 8: with us from the very beginning of this war. It's crucial,
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  Speaker 8: and we count on the support. And really, our agenda
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  Speaker 8: is energy needs. This is point number one. And, of course,
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  Speaker 8: we want to end this war as quick as possible.
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  Speaker 8: We don't see now signals from Russian side that they
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  Speaker 8: are ready for this, to end this war. That's why
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  Speaker 8: we have to prepare for the winter.
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  Speaker 7: All right, let's go to CNN's senior international correspondent, Fred Plankin. Fred,
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  Speaker 7: what more is Zelensky saying this morning specifically about President Trump.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, one of the interesting things is he hadn't actually
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  Speaker 4: mentioned President Trump by name and some of that criticism.
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  Speaker 4: But when we heard there in Volodymyr Zelensky speaking about
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  Speaker 4: European leaders calling them real leaders, he did seem to
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  Speaker 4: make very clear that right now his relations with the U.S.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: president certainly aren't where many people would want them to be,
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  Speaker 4: certainly where many European leaders would want them to be.
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  Speaker 4: One of the things that the Ukrainian president then also criticized, Wolf,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: was that diesel deal that the U.S. president did with
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  Speaker 4: the Russians, obviously sending some Russian diesel to the United States,
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: but also to global markets. Vladimir Zelensky, both in the
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: session and in his press conference, said he does not
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  Speaker 4: believe that that diesel deal is going to change energy
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  Speaker 4: prices and do much for global energy supply. But he
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  Speaker 4: says what it will do is it will fill the
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  Speaker 4: coffers of the Kremlin to continue what the Kremlin still
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  Speaker 4: calls its special military operation in Ukraine. One of the
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  Speaker 4: other things that the Ukrainian president also criticized is he
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  Speaker 4: believes that a deal like that sets a precedent. He
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  Speaker 4: says he believes that it will not remain a deal
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: just for diesel, but in the future that there could
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  Speaker 4: potentially be deals for gas as well. So he says
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  Speaker 4: he believes for Ukraine it could be a dangerous precedent
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  Speaker 4: that could be set. In total, it really was clear
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  Speaker 4: that the relations between the U.S. president and the Ukrainian
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  Speaker 4: president certainly seem to be deteriorating. I want to take
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  Speaker 4: a listen to the Ukrainian president being asked a question
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  Speaker 4: about his relations with the U.S. president at a press conference,
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  Speaker 4: and his response, or probably more accurate to call it
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  Speaker 4: a non-response. Here's what he said.
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  Speaker 9: His personal popularity is very low. Diesel prices in the U.S.
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: are very high, and the war that he started in
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  Speaker 9: the Middle East is not going the way he wants it.
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  Speaker 9: Do you think you are being treated as a scapegoat
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  Speaker 9: for his own problems.
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  Speaker 3: This is my answer.
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  Speaker 4: Ukraine's president saying there that non-answer is his answer when
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  Speaker 4: it comes to his relations with US President Donald Trump.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, one of the other big questions At this
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  Speaker 4: summit with the European Union was also the question of Starlink,
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  Speaker 4: which of course the Ukrainians had said had been moving
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  Speaker 4: quite slowly over the past couple of days. The Ukrainian
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  Speaker 4: president making clear that the Ukrainians do not use Starlink
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  Speaker 4: to attack sites inside Russia, but use it to actually
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: help themselves fend off Russian missiles, which of course fly
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: into Ukraine, especially those jet-powered ones that are very fast
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  Speaker 4: and very difficult to intercept. And one of the key points, Wolf,
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: that the Ukrainian president kept making, that for them right now,
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: they don't believe that the war is going to end
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  Speaker 4: anytime soon. That is why they are looking to surviving
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  Speaker 4: the winter. That's why these energy questions for the Ukrainians,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: they say, are absolutely key to sort those out before
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: it gets really cold there in Eastern Europe.
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it looks like that situation is escalating big time.
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: Fred Pleitgen reporting for us. Thank you very, very much.