The move to temporarily restrict the vital communications system came as President Donald Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, which he has blamed for the ​soaring energy prices that are denting his Republican Party‘s prospects in the November midterm elections.

But experts say that surge in energy costs is mainly the result of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which brought Iranian ​attacks on energy facilities and has largely shut the vital Strait of Hormuz.