Elon Musk personally approached US President Donald Trump with a proposal to slow down Starlink in Ukraine, and Trump agreed to it, The Telegraph reported on 16 October, citing four sources familiar with the discussions. The paper’s exclusive sits behind a paywall; its full text was republished by Yahoo. The account cuts against the public denials both men issued this week over who restricted the SpaceX satellite network that Ukrainian forces use on the battlefield.
Key facts
- Musk put the idea of slowing Starlink in Ukraine to Trump, The Telegraph reported.
- One of the paper’s sources said Trump “agreed” with the suggestion.
- The Pentagon then executed the slowdown on Starshield, the military-grade version of the satellite network.
- A high-ranking European official and two well-placed Ukrainian sources confirmed that version of events to The Telegraph.
- Ukrainian defence officials said on 14 October that connectivity began to be throttled for devices travelling faster than 160 kilometres per hour across Ukrainian territory, according to LondonLovesBusiness.
- Musk denied responsibility on Wednesday.
- Trump denied it on Friday.
- Reuters reported on 15 October that the order came from inside the White House.
- An anonymous US official told AFP that no request was ever made by the president.
- UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told LBC that Britain is taking a “different approach” to Washington on Ukraine.
What Starshield is
Starshield is the defence tier of SpaceX’s constellation: encrypted connectivity and hardened terminals contracted to the US government rather than sold to the public. That makes it distinct from the consumer Starlink satellite internet service, which SpaceX markets to households and businesses on monthly subscriptions, with Starlink price plans and hardware kit costs set country by country. Ukraine uses both, but the restriction described in The Telegraph’s reporting was applied to Starshield.
Why it matters
LondonLovesBusiness writes that the episode exposes a strategic vulnerability for Kyiv: its dependence on communications infrastructure controlled by a private company whose services can be affected by decisions taken in Washington. The outlet notes that satellite communications sit at the intersection of commercial interests, private corporate decisions and national security policy, unlike conventional military equipment supplied under formal government agreements.
Other governments buying into the same network have raised the same concern. The Telegraph reported that Poland had been leading warnings against over-reliance on Musk and SpaceX, the company that operates Starlink, with Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski posting a public message to the billionaire on social media.
What the report says happened
The Telegraph’s account has Musk putting the speed-limit idea to Trump, Trump agreeing, and the Pentagon implementing it. The paper quotes a senior source saying that after what was described as a “night of carnage” in Kyiv during the disruption, Musk became alarmed about possible adverse consumer reaction in Europe — the market for that retail subscription business — and publicly distanced himself.
“He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the US administration that did it. The reality is that they were both in it,” the source told the newspaper.
The denials do not line up
Musk said on Wednesday that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the federal government and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the president, The New Republic reported.
Trump, asked outside the White House on Friday who was responsible, claimed ignorance. “I don’t know if it was anybody, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” he said, as quoted by LondonLovesBusiness. That outlet says the competing accounts leave unresolved how the decision was reached, the extent of Musk’s involvement and precisely how the restrictions were implemented.
What the limits did
The speed cap made it virtually impossible to intercept Russia’s barrages of jet-powered drones and missiles, which travel at double the 160kmph threshold, The Telegraph reported. Ukrainian officials said the restrictions disrupted missions already under way, according to LondonLovesBusiness, and Ukrainian units said the limits hit their air-defence drones. The New Republic reports that Russia launched a massive aerial attack on Wednesday that continued into the next morning after Ukraine’s access was restricted.
The political backdrop
The disruption coincided with Trump’s anger over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, LondonLovesBusiness reports, with Washington said to have threatened to suspend intelligence-sharing. The Telegraph reported that US officials warned Kyiv’s negotiators that intelligence-sharing and other support could be cut off if long-range attacks were not halted.
Trump told Newsmax that the strikes were pushing world oil prices higher and called that a disgrace, The Telegraph reported, and he announced a deal lifting sanctions on Russia to buy diesel. Speaking in Brussels on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the slowdown a “very dangerous and unpleasant surprise”.
Britain’s response
Cooper told LBC‘s Lewis Goodall that the UK would continue to provide strong support for Ukraine and wanted to go further on sanctions, while avoiding direct criticism of Trump when asked whether he had blood on his hands. LBC reports she also confirmed the UK was looking at unfreezing European Russian assets to help fund Ukraine’s war effort. LBC’s report additionally states that Prime Minister Andy Burnham welcomed Zelensky to Downing Street on Wednesday — a detail carried by that outlet alone among the reports cited here, and not corroborated elsewhere at the time of writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have Ukraine’s Starlink speeds been fully restored?
Not to the previous level, according to Volodymyr Zelensky. Speaking on Friday, the Ukrainian president said his defence ministry had been told by partners that there were signals from the White House that the capabilities would return, and that restoration was under way, but that the previous speed limits had not yet come back. His remarks were reported by The Telegraph via Yahoo.
Has Musk restricted Ukraine’s use of Starlink before?
Yes. The Telegraph, in the report carried by Yahoo, notes that in 2023 Musk confirmed he had rebutted requests from Kyiv to use the system for drone attacks on Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia, to avoid being complicit in what he called a major act of war. The same report says Musk was praised by Ukrainians earlier this year for blocking illegal access to Starlink by Russian soldiers.
Does Europe have its own alternative to Starlink?
Not yet. The Telegraph report says the European Union is planning for Iris2, described as a Starlink replacement, to be operational by 2030. Until then, the reporting indicates Ukraine and European governments remain dependent on the SpaceX-operated network.
Was Starlink switched off completely in Ukraine?
No. LondonLovesBusiness states explicitly that the reports do not establish that Musk personally ordered a shutdown, or that the service was completely disabled across Ukraine. What Ukrainian defence officials described was throttling applied to devices travelling above a speed threshold.
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