Elon Musk acknowledged Saturday that SpaceX had throttled its Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, saying Ukraine's military had violated the service's terms by using it for offensive drone strikes, the Associated Press reported. Kyiv disputes the claim, and Sunday Sen. Adam Schiff said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify, sharpening questions about who controls communications that a country at war depends on.
What Happened
Musk wrote on X that the "loophole was closed last week," according to AP and Reuters. He also maintained that the U.S. government controls changes to Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink that AP calls the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations and communications. SpaceX owns Starlink; the U.S. government operates Starshield using Starlink technology, Reuters reported.
Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said long-standing restrictions on the civilian service in Ukraine already made such offensive use impossible. According to Reuters, he said long-range strike drones run at no more than 70 to 90 kilometers per hour on the system.
Ukrainian officials told Reuters the restrictions capped Starshield at 160 kph (100 mph), hampering interception of Russian attack drones and forcing some operations to be canceled. Zelenskyy said Saturday that speeds had returned to pre-restriction levels, and Ukraine's defense ministry said the connection was stable above 400 kph.
Who Gave the Order Is Disputed
Neither Musk nor the U.S. government has taken responsibility, and each has said only the other could have made the call, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump has said he did not make the decision, while Vice President JD Vance has hinted at White House coordination with Musk, according to AP. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called reports that the U.S. denied Ukraine something it needed inaccurate, NBC News reported. The Primary Wire reported Oct. 18, citing Reuters, that sources said the order came from inside the White House.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Schiff, a California Democrat, said that if Democrats retake the Senate, Hegseth and anyone with knowledge of the episode should be brought in. "Somebody is lying here," he said.
Why It Matters
The episode shows that a privately run network, working alongside a government customer, can degrade wartime military communications with no public accounting of who decided. It is not a one-off: six former senior U.S. officials told Reuters that the Biden and Trump administrations repeatedly asked SpaceX to switch Starlink on or off in countries including Iran, Yemen, Lebanon and Ukraine. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, cited the risks of U.S. dependence on SpaceX.
For governments and companies using satellite links as primary or backup connectivity, the lesson is that terms of service and performance can change abruptly, for reasons a customer cannot see.
What to Watch
Whether the White House, the Pentagon or SpaceX gives a full account of the decision, and whether Congress seeks testimony. Russia has agreed to resume three-way talks with Washington and Kyiv next month, AP reported, keeping Ukraine's reliance on the network in view.
