Washington DC - President Donald Trump has said he was not responsible for the temporary throttling of Starlink, the US satellite internet service used by the Ukrainian military.

"We didn't do that at all," Trump said on Friday when asked by reporters in Washington why he slowed down the system.

Trump's statements contradict those of tech magnate Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, the company that operates Starlink. 

Addressing reports that the company's Starshield system – the military function of Starlink – had been throttled, Musk said on Wednesday that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS."

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Trump appeared unaware of any changes to the system and denied that the internet service had been slowed at all. He said he had heard about it through the media, adding that as far as he understands, "We didn't slow it down at all."

"And I think it's probably functioning, from what I understand," Trump added.

According to Ukrainian reports, a speed limit for Starlink terminals was imposed without warning overnight into Wednesday, and lasted a little more than a day.

The reports said flying objects lost their connection if they moved faster than 100 miles per hour. This was said to have led to the failure of Ukrainian drone operations, both in their own attacks and in defending against Russian drones.

Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump have deteriorated after Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Moscow and buy Russian diesel. Trump called for the Ukrainian president to be replaced and accused him of driving up global oil prices through retaliatory attacks on Russian refineries.