Elon Musk is said to have instructed the United States to slow the speed of the military‑grade Starlink satellite service that Ukraine relies on for battlefield communications, according to the Wall Street Journal. The report cites U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter. Musk, SpaceX and the White House have not yet responded to Reuters’ request for comment, and Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
Musk and President Donald Trump discussed the decision on a call soon after the slowdown became public, the WSJ added, noting that the two had also talked about the issue before the throttling was enacted. The order to limit the satellite system is said to have come from inside the White House.
Trump denied responsibility for Ukraine losing Starlink access, while Musk said any limits on speed or use were decided by the U.S. military or the president. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is in Oslo seeking to repair U.S. ties, said he had discussed the Starlink/Starshield situation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that Washington had not withdrawn Ukraine’s ability to use Starlink, but the problem lay with the terms of service Kyiv needed to comply with.
With the slowdown in place, Ukraine’s military communications network may face reduced bandwidth, potentially impacting coordination on the front lines. The situation remains fluid as officials from both sides work to resolve the technical and policy issues involved.
