Recent efforts to throttle Ukraine's access to satellite systems have created a blame game of sorts among Trump administration officials and their allies, who have offered mixed messages about what led to the sudden restrictions on Kyiv's ability to intercept Russian strikes. The limitations placed on Starshield – SpaceX’s military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service and the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations and communication – last week alarmed the country's military and government officials, with commanders reporting lost drones and disrupted missions. After days of handwringing, US President Donald Trump asserted Thursday that the service is running again at full speed.
Read moreWhat is Starshield,SpaceX's military version of Starlink? However, a senior European official familiar with the situation on the ground in Ukraine said Thursday that nothing has changed in the operation of Starshield, with its speed cap still set at about 100mph (160kph). Ukraine has not received a clear official explanation of who ordered the restrictions or why, according to the official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The episode and subsequent lack of accountability have sent shock waves through Russia hawks and Ukraine's allies on Capitol Hill. Richard Blumenthal announced a new inquiry into how the technologies were slowed down for Ukraine’s defence systems. Questions have percolated since last week about who ordered the interruptions to the Elon Musk-made satellite internet system that Ukraine has relied on for years to counter Moscow's attacks.
Trump, as recently as Thursday, has maintained that he didn’t make the call. Vice President JD Vance has hinted at White House coordination with Musk, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied any administration involvement. Musk – one of the GOP's biggest donors and a Trump ally – indicated that because Ukraine was using the military-grade version of his technology, questions about the service should be directed to the Pentagon.
Restrictions expose Ukraine's Starlink dependency in Russia war To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
Over the last week, Trump has repeatedly told reporters that he didn’t order restrictions on a satellite communications system used by Ukraine’s military, causing its drones to lose speed. The president also earlier doubted the disruption came from Musk, formerly a close adviser and frequent companion. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had agreed to lift restrictions, and Trump demurred when asked if he had requested to lift the cap.
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