Trump Called Musk and Asked Him to Lift Ukraine Starlink Restrictions


Military-grade system appeared to be working more normally on Thursday, soon after the call By Alexander Ward and Lara Seligman the Wall Street Journal Updated Oct. 22, 2026 4:54 pm ET Articule contains A Ukrainian drone operator installs a Starlink communications system. Maria Senovilla/EPA/Shutterstock Quick Summary -- President Trump called Elon Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on a military-grade version of Starlink in Ukraine, U.S. officials said. -- U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the Starlink system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the conversation. -- Trump told officials he was frustrated that Starlink speeds were capped, which rendered some Ukrainian drones powerless against Russian attacks. This summary was generated with AI and reviewed by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism WASHINGTON—President Trump called Elon Musk on Wednesday and asked him to lift restrictions on a military-grade version of Starlink in Ukraine that the SpaceX chief had throttled, U.S. officials said. The system was working more normally Thursday, shortly after their conversation, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said. Some Ukrainian officials said the system wasn’t restored to full functionality but was working at higher speeds than under the cap. Trump told Musk he was frustrated the system’s speeds remained capped at around 100 miles an hour, officials said. The speed limit rendered some of Ukraine’s offensive drones and interceptors powerless against Russian attacks. Their conversation followed a Wall Street Journal report revealing that Musk ordered the slowdown, though SpaceX and the White House have differing accounts about whether the world’s richest man acted alone or at the administration’s behest. Trump has told aides and allies this week that he wanted to reverse the slowdown of Starlink, which Ukraine’s forces use to defend themselves along the front line, the officials said. “Removal of the throttle limit will do much to enable Ukraine’s strike capabilities at operational depths and its current effort to scale up deployment of jet-powered interceptors,” said Michael Kofman, an expert on the war at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Kofman added that he had heard from Ukrainian military units that early tests suggest the system is now working more regularly. “I don’t comment one way or the other,” Trump said on Thursday when asked about the Journal’s reporting that he had called Musk. “The bottom line: He put it back.” A Ukrainian official said some military units had experienced higher Starlink speeds while others were facing the same cap. “We keep waiting for the information and clarification from the American side about the situation. There is no response yet.” Musk and SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The White House referred the Journal to Trump’s recent denials that he had asked Musk to throttle Starlink’s speeds or knew who issued the order. Trump and Musk spoke about Ukraine and Starlink on the day the slowdown became public, the Journal previously reported. The president and his top officials have spent a week facing questions about why Starlink was throttled and whether they ordered it. The slowdown began days after Trump and Musk both publicly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for attacking Russian diesel refineries, which Trump blames for elevated energy prices. Trump has repeatedly denied giving the order or knowing who did. The connectivity issues helped sink U.S.-Ukraine relations to their lowest level in months. Asked about Musk’s decision to throttle Starlink, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday told reporters “it’s completely understandable that he doesn’t want to get in the middle of a war without the U.S. government effectively directing him on what to do.” “I don’t think this is about Elon. I think it’s fundamentally about what America’s policy in Ukraine and Russia is going to be,” he continued. His message differed from comments by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Musk had the authority to enforce his company’s terms of service without input from the administration. “There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions,” Hegseth said, speaking to reporters earlier this week. The speed cap meant Ukrainian hardware couldn’t stay connected to the satellite-based network when traveling at high rates of speed, according to people familiar with the matter. Ukrainian officials said the move would cost Ukrainian lives. Russia overnight launched another massive barrage against Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, just a day after Moscow said it had agreed to trilateral talks with the U.S. and Ukraine to end the war. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) on Thursday announced an investigation into how Starlink was degraded for Ukraine without notice and the implications of the Pentagon’s dependence on SpaceX for critical satellite communications.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

News Analysis [:] Russia’s Strategy Against the West: Escalate Slowly and See if It Responds

Image
Ukrainian and European officials say President Vladimir V. Putin has become emboldened by a lack of Western pushback.  The police inspected the damage to a house caused by debris from a shot-down Russian drone in the village of Wyryki-Wola, eastern Poland on Wednesday. Credit... Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By  Andrew E. Kramer Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times , Sept. 11, 2025 Updated  8:49 a.m. ET An American factory in western Ukraine. Two European diplomatic compounds and a key Ukrainian government building in Kyiv. And now Poland. Over a roughly three-week period, Russian drones and missiles have struck sites of increasing sensitivity for Ukraine and its Western allies, culminating in the volley of Russian drones that buzzed early Wednesday over Poland, a NATO country. For decades, American and European military planners feared something else: a bolt-from-the-blue assault, like an all-out nuclear strike, from the Soviet Union or ...
Read more

Ukraine turns the tables on Russia

Image
A bold Ukrainian operation in Kursk has humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin and upended some of the logic of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Column by  Ishaan Tharoor The Washington Post , August 14, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EDT; see also Ukrainian soldiers pose for a picture as they repair a military vehicle near the Russian border on Sunday. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters) Russia’s Kursk oblast is no stranger to war.  In medieval times, the district was overrun by the Mongol horde, and was claimed and ceded down the centuries by Eurasian empires. During World War II, the environs of the city of Kursk became the site of the greatest tank battle in history, as Nazi Germany suffered a grievous strategic defeat at the hands of  the bloodied yet unbowed Soviet Union . This past week, Kursk has been the site of the first major invasion of Russian territory since then. This time, it’s not the Nazi war machine rolling in — no matter what Kremlin propagandists insi...
Read more

As Ukraine Raises Alarm Over U.S. Backing, Europeans Pledge Support

Image
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who met with Britain’s prime minister, has said Ukraine received no warning of Russian attacks, but President Trump has said Washington is still “sharing intel.” Prime Minister Andy Burnham welcoming President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine outside 10 Downing Street, in London, on Wednesday. Credit... Jack Taylor/Reuters By Michael D. Shear  and   Lara Jakes Michael D. Shear reported from London,  and Lara Jakes from Rome The New York Times Oct. 14, 2026 Updated 2:26 p.m. ET European leaders vowed to redouble their support for Ukraine on Wednesday, amid fears that President Trump could stop or cut back on sharing military intelligence with Ukraine in its war with Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Wednesday referred to what he called recent “difficulties” with partners during a meeting in London with Prime Minister Andy Burnham of Britain. Mr. Zelensky did not offer details, but said he would talk with Mr. Burnham about...
Read more