The slowdown of the satellite service Ukraine uses to fly its drones was ordered by Elon Musk, chief executive of the rocket and satellite operator SpaceX, the Wall Street Journal reported from Washington on Tuesday 20 October. The WSJ story is paywalled; the details below are drawn from the Texarkana Gazette’s relay of that reporting. The account contradicts earlier reporting, and a denial from Musk himself, that the instruction came from inside the White House.
Key facts
- Tuesday 20 October: the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk restricted the speed of Ukraine’s access to the satellite system, citing unnamed American officials and others, as relayed by the Texarkana Gazette.
- Friday 16 October: The Telegraph reported that Musk approached President Donald Trump with the proposal to introduce speed limits, citing four sources familiar with the discussions. That story is also paywalled and was carried in full by Yahoo News.
- Friday 16 October: two US officials and a Western official told Defense News the order to slow Starshield for the Ukrainian military came from inside the White House, and that leaders at the Defense Department received that message.
- A person in Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said terminals were working in motion again but only at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour (160kph), Defense News reported.
- A senior US official told Defense News: “No such request was ever made by the president.”
- The Pentagon declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report, the Texarkana Gazette said.
Why it matters
Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, is sold to governments rather than households, and nothing in the reporting describes a change to consumer plans, coverage or pricing. What the episode does test, more sharply than any previous dispute, is who controls a network that governments now depend on. Ukrainian officials said the restrictions complicated strike missions against Russian forces and logistics in occupied territory and slowed interceptor drones used to shoot down incoming Russian Shahed drones, Defense News reported.
Musk points to the Pentagon, Telegraph sources to a joint call
Musk said on X on Wednesday 14 October that because Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the president, Defense News reported.
The Telegraph’s four sources describe a joint decision. One said Trump “agreed” with Musk’s suggestion, paving the way for the Pentagon to execute the slowdown, in the version of the report carried by Yahoo News. A senior source said Musk had been alarmed about the possibility of adverse consumer reaction in Europe after what was described as a “night of carnage” in Kyiv; a high-ranking European official and two well-placed Ukrainian sources confirmed that version.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk discussed the Starlink decision with Trump after the shortfall became publicly known, and that a person familiar with the matter said Musk had talked about the slowdown with administration officials before it took effect. Speaking at the White House on the evening of Friday 16 October, Trump said he did not think either he or Musk had been responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access, The Telegraph reported. The White House did not respond to questions about whether other administration officials made the request, Defense News said.
What the cap did on the front line
Ukrainian officials said military-grade Starlink receptors stopped working when mounted on fast-moving objects, interfering with drones that rely on them for onboard guidance, Defense News reported. The Telegraph put the practical effect bluntly: the cap limited drones to around 160kph, making it virtually impossible to intercept Russian jet-powered drones and missiles, which travel at double that speed. Zelensky called the slowdown a “very dangerous and unpleasant surprise” on the fringes of an EU summit in Brussels on 16 October.
Refinery strikes, the pressure campaign behind the cap
In Defense News’s account, the slowdown is tied to a wider US pressure campaign over Ukraine’s deep strikes: the restriction came as Trump pushed Kyiv to stop attacking Russian refineries. At a meeting in Miami on 9 October with representatives from both countries, Europe and the World Bank, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Ukrainian officials Washington was frustrated with the continued strikes, a person familiar with the matter said. The same delegation outlined a deal under which Russia will supply more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel to US and global markets, an arrangement US lawmakers have attacked as funding Russia’s war without forcing concessions. American officials had separately threatened to stop providing missile-launch intelligence sharing with Kyiv, Defense News noted, citing earlier Reuters reporting; Trump said on Tuesday 13 October that Washington was still sharing intelligence.
Calls for an investigation
California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said the decision to slow satellite speed and access has “life or death consequences for Ukraine” and called for a full Senate investigation, with Musk compelled to testify under oath, the Texarkana Gazette reported. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, faulted Musk and Trump on CNN for what he called a pattern of siding with Russia over Ukraine. Lawmakers in Washington are already demanding an inquiry.
Background
It is not the first such dispute. In 2023 Musk confirmed he had rebutted requests by Kyiv to use the system in drone attacks on Crimea to avoid being complicit in a “major act of war”, The Telegraph reported, while earlier this year he was praised by Ukrainians for blocking illegal access to Starlink by Russian soldiers. The Telegraph said Poland has led warnings against European reliance on Musk or SpaceX, with Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski writing on social media that European customers are watching the company; the bloc’s own satellite project, Iris2, is not planned to be operational until 2030. In Oslo on Tuesday 13 October, Zelensky said he had discussed intelligence sharing and access to Starlink with Witkoff, describing the talks as “very concrete”.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the slowdown affect ordinary Starlink home internet plans or prices?
Nothing in the reporting describes any change to consumer service. The cap was applied to Starshield, the government-only service SpaceX sells to national-security customers on the back of the Starlink constellation; the Pentagon is its biggest customer, according to Defense News. Consumer Starlink availability, coverage and pricing are not mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Telegraph or Defense News accounts of the slowdown.
Has the speed cap on Ukraine’s terminals been lifted?
Not fully, as of the reporting. Speaking in Brussels on Friday 16 October, President Volodymyr Zelensky said signals were being restored and that his partners had told him there were signals from the White House that the capabilities would return, but when asked directly whether the previous speed limits were gone he answered no, according to The Telegraph.
Why was Washington pressuring Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries?
Defense News reports that President Donald Trump has blamed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries for soaring energy prices that are denting his Republican Party’s prospects in the November midterm elections. Experts cited by the outlet disagree with that diagnosis, saying the 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 Strait of Hormuz.
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