Trump responds to Ukraine's StarShield failure: "I didn't do it... I don't know who it is."

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Hong Jeong-gyu = U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 16th (local time) that the order regarding the connection failure of the Starshield system, which is essential for Ukraine's anti-Russia drone operation, was not an order given by him.

President Trump met with reporters at the White House on his way to Georgia that day and said regarding the Starshield connection failure, "That wasn't what I did. It wouldn't have been Elon (Musk) either," Reuters and Bloomberg reported.

Starshield is a military system based on Starlink, a commercial satellite communication service operated by SpaceX CEO Musk.

President Trump said, "I don't know who else did that," and claimed, "As far as I know, (Starshield) is in the same condition as before."

Starshield access and control authority lies with the U.S. Department of Defense. On the 14th, Musk said on

President Trump's remarks are interpreted to mean that the Starshield system operates smoothly as before and that he had nothing to do with Ukraine's restrictions or slowdowns in Starshield access.

The Ukrainian military receives Starshield service support from the U.S. government, attaches terminals to drones, and uses them to attack major Russian facilities or shoot down Russian attack drones. Ukraine suffered damage from Russian drone strikes this week due to a Starshield connection failure, which created a gap in drone attack and defense.

Previously, Reuters reported that it had inquired with the U.S. and received the answer that it was a "measure based on the White House decision."

Reuters also reported, citing two unnamed U.S. officials and one Western official, that Ukraine's disruption of Starshield access was intentional and that it was understood to have been ordered by the U.S. White House.

The White House denied these reports. President Trump also emphasized that he never gave such an order.

President Trump repeatedly sent a message expressing hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit to be held in Miami, Florida, in December.

“I don’t know whether he will attend (the G20 summit), but I certainly hope he comes,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a briefing at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the 23rd of last month that he had invited President Putin to the G20 summit and expected his acceptance.