President Donald Trump on Thursday told reporters that Elon Musk had restored Ukraine’s Starlink access but declined to comment when asked whether he had spoken to Musk about the matter.

However, Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that full functionality of SpaceX’s Starshield programme had not yet been restored in an interview with CNN.

Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, made the remark as he met with the Russian leader this week.

It comes as the US president has made a new push to end the Ukraine war, and is putting pressure on Kyiv to agree to a settlement.

No 10 suggested the Government was wholly at odds with the description of Mr Putin.

Asked about it by reporters, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “We certainly do not recognise that characterisation, and president Putin has killed thousands of people, both innocent Ukrainians and his own Russian people, who he has sent to their deaths on the frontline.”

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Vladimir Putin has said that the territories in eastern Ukraine claimed by Moscow were “historically Russian land” in comments made on Thursday.

He said any future trilateral talks involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine should focus on security guarantees for both Russia and Ukraine, adding broader European security issues should also be discussed.

Polish ​authorities have detained a second suspect in the June murder of a Russian ⁠artist who had criticized President Vladimir Putin, secret service chief Tomasz Siemoniak said on Thursday.

Robert Kuzovkov, ​also ⁠known as Semyon Skrepetsky, died after he was ⁠hit by five bullets ​in ⁠the eastern Polish ‌city of Biala Podlaska in June.

Kuzovkov was known for ‌his work criticizing ‌Russian authorities and had staged a protest in Berlin shortly ⁠before the shooting.

At the time, Polish authorities detained a 36-year-old man, who they said was using a Georgian passport.

The second man, a ‌22-year-old Georgian national ​suspected of complicity in the ‌murder, had ⁠been placed in pre-trial detention ⁠for three months by a ‌court, Siemoniak ​wrote on ‌X on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has called SpaceX owner Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starlink, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing US officials.

The Starlink system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the Trump-Musk conversation, according to US and Ukrainian officials cited by the publication.

Ukrainian ​President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russia hit ⁠Kyiv overnight with three ballistic missiles carrying cluster munition warheads.

Zelensky ⁠said ​such missiles ⁠were designed to detonate ⁠in the air as ​they approach ⁠their targets, ‌spreading damage across an area 400 meters ‌in diameter.

He ‌added that one of them ⁠struck Kyiv’s historic district, hitting the area near the monastic buildings of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

He also said that Russia ‌had kept ​targeting Ukrainian ‌energy infrastructure with ⁠more than 170 ⁠strikes on critical energy facilities ‌since ​October ‌11.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that access to SpaceX’s military-grade Starshield remains restricted in an interview with CNN on Thursday.

The US and Elon Musk have blamed each other for the limitation.

He added: “My attitude to Putin is very clear. I think that if we lift sanctions, we will make him stronger. It’s not something personal between me and President Trump, and of course I’m against of any lifting of sanctions.”

Denmark said on Thursday it has agreed to buy its first long-range precision missiles as ⁠the Nordic country seeks to bolster its security to deter Russian aggression in Europe, drawing condemnation from Moscow.

Danish Defence Minister Jeppe Bruus said the new missile systems would boost Denmark’s capabilities ⁠and enable strikes “behind enemy lines” ​if ⁠attacked.

“We’re in a serious and deteriorating security situation and that is why we are building up ⁠the defence and strengthening our combat power,” Bruus told reporters.

The ​Russian ⁠embassy in Copenhagen, in ‌a written statement, said Denmark’s missile policy aims at confrontation with Moscow and warned of “inevitable disastrous consequences”.

The US President has recently turned on Zelensky over Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries, saying he was “more difficult to deal with than Putin” in comments that have enraged Kyiv and Europe.

Trump also claimed that Russia “hasn’t been doing much” in Ukraine, despite thousands of civilian deaths the unprecedented destruction of infrastructure.

Speaking to Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast, the Ukrainian president said: “The way Trump talks about me, he needs to adopt that kind of rhetoric about Putin.”

Zelensky said he did not understand why Trump was unhappy with him: “Congress voted for strong sanctions. He can do it – I don’t know why he is not doing it.