India, Aug. 1 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pitched President Donald Trump and other American officials on helping Ukraine win permission from tech titan Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia.

The push for expanded use of Starlink comes as Zelenskyy looks for alternate ways to mitigate the need for US Patriot air defence systems to thwart the steady barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian territory. The interceptors are in shorter supply as the US and Israeli war against Iran continues to rage, and Trump on Friday appeared to back away from a recent commitment to give Ukraine a license to produce them.

Zelenskyy made the request directly to Trump i...