A Ukrainian soldier stands beside an anti-aircraft gun as air defense forces prepare to repel a Russian drone attack in Kyiv on Sept. 19. Ukrainian officials say Starlink restrictions continue to hamper military operations despite President Donald Trump’s claim that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine’s access to the service. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
Ukrainian defense officials said Starlink, the satellite internet service the country uses for communications in its war against Russia, was still not fully functional a day after President Donald Trump said SpaceX had restored its access.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trump declined to confirm a news report that he had called Musk a day before and asked him to lift the restrictions. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, which owns Starlink.
Despite Trump’s comments, Ukrainian drone units and defense officials say connections with Starshield, a military-grade service using Starlink’s vast network of satellites, continued to fail throughout most of the country when drones flew faster than 100 miles an hour, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Friday that forces were “not observing any lifting of restrictions on Starlink.”
“There are isolated instances where a Starlink terminal can operate slightly faster than the limit, but this is likely due to how SpaceX’s algorithm works or specific operating conditions, rather than the lifting of the restriction,” Beskrestnov said in an X post by ArmyInform, the information agency of Ukraine’s military.
The Kyiv Post also reported that as of Friday morning, the military was experiencing satellite connectivity losses at drone speeds of more than 100 miles an hour, citing a source in the country’s defense ministry.
Both Trump and Musk have denied responsibility for deliberately throttling the service. Musk has maintained that the U.S. military controls Starshield and that any limits on speed or usage would be determined by the Pentagon and ultimately the White House.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said earlier this week that the Pentagon has not “pulled anything back,” suggesting that the issue may be connected to violations of Starlink’s terms of service.
The slowdown came after both Musk and Trump criticized Ukraine for drone strikes on Russian refineries, which the U.S. president blamed for driving up global energy prices. Trump has lifted some sanctions on Russia in a bid to curb fuel costs.
Starshield’s slowdown began affecting Ukraine’s military on Oct. 14 and “has continued since, despite earlier reports of partial improvement,” Beskrestnov said.
Ukraine’s assertions that SpaceX had restricted its Starlink military receptors date from more than a week ago. A cap of about 100 mph caused terminals to shut down and interceptor drones targeting Russian jet-powered Shahed munitions to crash, Zelenskyy said.
The source of the disruption has raised broader questions on Capitol Hill about Musk’s influence over U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
“We’re putting too many eggs in one company’s basket when it comes to our space assets,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said Thursday, according to Politico.
Cramer received a briefing Thursday from Air Force Secretary Troy Meink about Starshield, the report said.
A member of the Armed Services Committee, Cramer said he was concerned about the power of “one individual and one company over America’s ability to protect the domain of space, which is a war-fighting domain,” Politico reported.
Also on Thursday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he had launched an inquiry into the sudden restrictions of Starshield services in Ukraine.
The move “raises serious questions about who controls critical capabilities the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to procure,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to engage in another round of U.S.-led peace negotiations, even as both sides continue to exchange military strikes.
Russia launched a major overnight attack Thursday on Ukraine’s energy facilities, knocking out electricity for over 500,000, Ukraine’s energy ministry said.
Ukrainian news outlets reported that flights had been halted at all four airports serving Moscow because of a Ukrainian drone attack. Sheremetyevo Airport was evacuated, according to British newspaper The Telegraph, which cited the airport’s press service.