Trump administration offers mixed messages on limits to Ukraine's
Starshield access
[October 23, 2026]
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and HANNA ARHIROVA
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, President Donald
Trump asserted Thursday that the service is running again at full speed.
However, restrictions were still in place on Friday, according to Serhii
“Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We have not seen any indication that Starlink’s restrictions have been
lifted," he said in a post on social media. "There are isolated cases
where Starlink can operate at speeds slightly above the limit, but these
are likely due to SpaceX’s algorithm or specific operating conditions,
rather than the restriction being lifted.”
A senior European official familiar with the situation on the ground in
Ukraine said Thursday that the speed cap was still set at about 100 mph
(160 kph). Ukraine has not received a clear official explanation of who
ordered the restrictions or why, according to the official, who was not
authorized 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. Democratic
Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced a new inquiry into how the
technologies were slowed down for Ukraine’s defense 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 Defense 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.
Here are the players in their own words:
President Donald Trump
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.
“Well, I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t
think it was Elon,” Trump said Friday. “And from what I understand, it’s
the same as it’s always been.”
On Thursday, Trump appeared to confirm that the service had been down
and claimed that it was once again working at optimal speeds. 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.
“You know, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn’t
make any difference,” Trump told reporters. “I guess the bottom line, he
put it back.”
Vice President JD Vance
In Cincinnati on Thursday, Vance was asked about Musk’s involvement in
the slowdown of Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine and whether it
warranted an investigation.
“I think that fundamentally, Elon Musk runs a private corporation,”
Vance told reporters. “And I think it’s completely understandable that
he doesn’t want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state
actors without the United States government effectively directing him on
what to do.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to speak with members of
the media at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, India, Wednesday,
Oct. 21, 2026. (Kylie Cooper/Pool Photo via AP)
Vance continued: “So I don’t think this is about Elon. I think it’s
fundamentally what is America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia going
to be.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Rubio has insisted that the Trump administration and the U.S.
government more broadly had nothing to do with interruptions to
Ukraine’s access to crucial satellite data.
Speaking to reporters in India on Wednesday, Rubio said for the
third time in four days that any throttling of network access to
Ukraine was not directed or ordered by Trump or anyone else in his
administration. He suggested, though, that the owner of the system —
Musk — may have been involved.
“What I can tell you with certainty is the president of the United
States nor anyone in our system ever requested that any changes to
that system be made, and that’s what we said repeatedly,” Rubio
said. “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.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
Hegseth has echoed Rubio's comments, denying on Tuesday any American
role in slowing down the satellite internet service while also
pushing the responsibility to Musk's company.
“We haven’t pulled anything back,” Hegseth told reporters, before
adding that “there are terms of service that ultimately need to be
complied to.”
He offered no elaboration on what terms of service Ukraine needed to
comply with but said that “Starlink has the option to make those
decisions.”
SpaceX chief Elon Musk
Musk, the world's richest man and leader of the company behind
Starlink and Starshield, last week put the onus on the Trump
administration.
“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.
Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and
ultimately POTUS,” he wrote Oct. 14 on X.
“Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX.
Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and
cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be
inappropriate for a commercial company,” Musk added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The wartime president has been working to reverse the restrictions
imposed without warning last week.
Shortly after the systems failed to work, Zelenskyy said that there
were no similar restrictions in European Union countries and that
they apply only to Ukraine. “In other words, this is a planned
operation,” he said.
Zelenskyy spoke to a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers Monday,
saying in a video of the briefing posted to social media that “we
still face speed restrictions on Starlink and Starshield services in
different parts of the front, and we still have no explanation for
this. Just different strange stories.”
In an interview Wednesday on “Fox & Friends," Zelenskyy said that
Starlink connectivity is still limited in Ukraine and that he was
told by Rubio he would work to “unblock” the slowdown.
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Amiri reported from New York and Arhirova from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Seung Min Kim, Konstantin
Toropin, Matthew Lee and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to
this report.
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