After Ukraine said its access to Elon Musk's constellation of satellites orbiting close to the Earth was restricted—hampering its ability to fight Russia—questions swirled about who would be able to put these limits in place and take Kyiv by surprise. Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday the military version of Musk's Starlink satellite communications network, made by Musk's SpaceX firm but overseen by the U.S. government, was restricted on systems operating at speeds above 100 miles per hour. The episode raised a central question: who has the authority to restrict Ukraine's access to Starshield, and under what circumstances?" Top officials said the curb quickly wreaked havoc with Ukrainian drone operations and air defenses around the Ukrainian capital amid Russian attacks, including with Moscow's new jet-powered explosive drones.
Kyiv was caught off-guard by the sudden changes to the Starshield system, officials said, further fueling concerns about the U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia ahead of what is expected to be another punishing winter for Ukraine's residents. The restrictions attracted particular scrutiny because they came as the U.S. pressures Ukraine to halt its punishing campaign of drone assaults on Russian oil refineries, which have contributed to surging diesel costs and dented Russia's export-reliant economy. Ukraine's former defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said Ukraine's ability to use Starshield, the military version of Starlink, at higher speeds was "being restored." Starshield was once again working as normal on Thursday, Ukraine's Ukrinform state news agency reported, citing sources in the country's defense ministry.
In a message directed at Musk, Fedorov added, "thank you." But Musk, responding to Fedorov, said Starshield systems are "owned and controlled" by the U.S. government, meaning "any limits on speed or usage" are dictated by the U.S. military, and, ultimately, the U.S. president. The White House hasn't publicly commented. President Donald Trump's administration planned to reach out to SpaceX to work out what happened with Ukraine's access, an unnamed source told Axios.
Two anonymous sources told the outlet the White House did not have control over SpaceX. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine's Starlink access was "blocked by SpaceX and the United States." "I am sure they knew what they did, absolutely," Zelensky said during a visit to the U.K. on Wednesday. Zelensky also said on Tuesday that Ukraine wasn't alerted by its allies before Russian missile attacks for the second day in a row, raising fears the U.S. may have choked off Kyiv's access to intelligence.
Ukraine's systems "detected these missiles only when they were already virtually on approach to Kyiv," Zelensky said. Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. was still sharing intelligence with Kyiv, but Ukrainian officials who still remember the U.S. briefly severing its access to American-derived intelligence in early 2025 will likely be wary. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Wednesday the Pentagon is obliged to tell Congress if the Department of Defense pauses or reduces its intelligence-sharing with Kyiv.
"These restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield must stop immediately," Shaheen added. "At best, this was an unacceptable error or lapse, and at worst a [conscious] decision to clear the field for a Russian attack," Republican Senator Thom Tillis said in a social media statement. Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said on Wednesday that reduced Starlink access will hurt Ukraine's ability to intercept Russia's jet-powered Shahed drones before they hit targets like the Ukrainian capital.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
