WASHINGTON — Elon Musk reportedly ordered a slowdown in Ukraine’s access to Starlink’s military-grade satellite internet, a system that supports drones used to counter Russian attacks, according to a new report.
US officials told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Musk imposed the restriction on Oct. 14 without first consulting the White House. However, another person familiar with the episode said the SpaceX founder had spoken with senior administration officials and President Trump before the decision was made.
The service involved is Starshield, a defense-focused version of Starlink that Ukraine relies on to operate both attack drones and interceptors.
The reported restriction prevented Starshield from connecting to aircraft traveling faster than 100 mph, disrupting Ukraine’s drone missions at a critical moment in the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the United States and SpaceX of causing the disruption, which continued for much of the following week.
The service problems emerged while Russia was targeting Ukrainian power facilities with drones, despite a fragile energy truce that Trump had helped broker between Moscow and Kyiv on Oct. 11.
Musk rejected the claim that he had personally restricted Ukraine’s access. In an Oct. 14 post on X, he said Starshield belongs to and is controlled by the US government, meaning that decisions about speed and usage are made by the military and, ultimately, the president.
He added that Starlink is a commercial SpaceX product intended for civilian or defensive use, arguing that offensive military operations would be inappropriate for a private company’s service.
Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Zelensky for resisting peace negotiations, joined other administration officials in denying that the US had deliberately interfered with Ukraine’s access.
“I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all,” Trump told reporters Friday as he departed the White House for a campaign trip to Georgia. He said he had checked the situation that morning and did not believe the service had been slowed, adding that neither he nor Musk was responsible, as far as he knew.
Accounts from Reuters and The Telegraph offered differing explanations about whether the decision came from Musk or from officials inside the Trump administration.
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An administration official told The Post last Thursday that the episode was an instance of “Pentagon freelancing,” claiming it was not the first time the Defense Department had acted independently in matters involving Ukraine.
Musk was appointed last month by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to a panel examining the future of military technology. The group, known as Project Meridian, also includes Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Zelensky maintained that the instruction originated with the US government, although he said he did not know which officials or department had issued it.
“It was a message from the American government to limit the speed,” Zelensky said, adding that SpaceX ultimately carried out the technical change.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed the reports Tuesday, saying there had been no interruption in either Starlink connectivity or US intelligence support for Kyiv.
Rubio sharply rejected claims that Ukrainians had died because Washington withheld information. “That’s scandalous, that’s outrageous,” he said, insisting the allegation was untrue.
He described the reported outages on Oct. 13 and Oct. 18 as technical issues rather than the result of a US order to withhold advance warnings of Russian attacks. Rubio said Ukraine was continuing to receive the same warnings it had previously been given.
The dispute also unfolded amid another point of tension between Washington and Kyiv: Trump’s Oct. 9 arrangement with Russia to purchase diesel exports. Ukraine objected that the deal could provide revenue for President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, while Trump argued it would help lower fuel prices worldwide.
Zelensky called the move “weak.” Trump responded by saying Ukraine should choose a new president.
Neither the White House nor SpaceX have responded to The Post’s requests for comment.
