Report: Musk ordered Starlink slowdown in Ukraine, then blamed it on Trump

Starlink’s dominance of the market for low-Earth orbit satellite broadband, and the technology’s usefulness for military operations, has given Musk a unique ability to influence the war in Ukraine. Musk first sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February 2022 after the Russian invasion disrupted broadband access.

SpaceX confirmed in 2023 that it had blocked Ukraine from using Starlink with military drones, saying its contract with Ukraine did not allow offensive uses. But in August 2024, SpaceX received a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine’s access to the military-focused Starshield, Bloomberg reported later that year.

The August 2024 deal was apparently the second such contract, and it reportedly allowed Ukraine to connect another 2,500 Starlink terminals to the Starshield network. Ukraine already had 500 terminals connected to Starshield under a previous contract, the Bloomberg report said.

Zelenskyy: Starlink/Starshield still needs to be restored

Despite those previously reported contracts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday that Ukraine uses only Starlink and not Starshield. “I know Ukraine wants access to Starshield. They do not have Starshield now. They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia,” Rubio said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine uses Starshield and that the new restrictions have not been completely lifted. He wrote in an X post on Monday that the limits affect “units using Starlink/Starshield services. Unfortunately, we have established that the equipment stops functioning at speeds of 130–161 kilometers per hour in various sectors of the front.”

Zelenskyy’s office said in a press release yesterday that Zelenskyy spoke with Rubio on the phone to discuss several topics, including “the situation with Starlink/Starshield, which needs to be restored.”

Rubio told reporters today that “the president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr. Musk. That’s a private company. The president doesn’t run that company and can’t direct that company to do anything.” Rubio said the administration had “no foreknowledge” of the slowdown.

When contacted by Ars today, the White House press office reiterated Trump’s statement but provided no further details. “As President Trump said, we didn’t slow down Starlink at all, and the service is currently operational,” the White House said.

We contacted SpaceX and will update this article if it responds.