Ukraine’s access to Starlink a decision for Elon Musk, Rubio says

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio says decisions about Ukraine’s access to Starlink are in the hands of its parent company, SpaceX, and CEO Elon Musk, not the White House, in response to claims it was involved in restricting Kyiv’s access to satellite internet services.

Rubio’s comments on Wednesday may increase scrutiny of US decision-making to potentially throttle the high-tech system, which allows Kyiv to intercept incoming projectiles and target Russian launchers.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had ordered a slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukraine relies on for defence against Russian missile attacks.

The Journal quoted one person as saying Musk, US President Donald Trump and White House officials discussed the matter beforehand and two people as saying Musk and the president discussed the matter in the days after the slowdown.

The Reuters news agency has quoted two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter as saying the decision ultimately came from the White House.

This version was also confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but denied by the Trump administration.

‘Missions disrupted’

Zelenskyy adviser Serhii Beskrestnov wrote on the Telegram messaging app on October 14 that SpaceX had imposed a limit of 160 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour) on Starshield services. That affected guidance systems for drones that Ukraine uses to intercept Russian drones flying at far greater speeds.

“Our defence forces received no prior warning regarding this restriction, and it has led to the disruption of a number of missions,” Beskrestnov said.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence confirmed the resumption of services on October 15.

Rubio told reporters during a trip to India on Wednesday that he was not aware if the administration knew about the decision beforehand but said it was “irrelevant”.

“The bottom line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract as to how their stuff can be used and what speeds they’ll allow it to be used at,” he said.

Musk had previously said on X that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS (President of the United States).”

Trump, asked by reporters on Wednesday whether Musk ordered the slowdown, said he did not know who did it but “I was not involved.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Tuesday also portrayed the Starlink cutoff as a commercial matter.

“There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions,” he said.

One significant point of confusion relates to the difference between SpaceX’s Starshield and Starlink products. Starshield is essentially a military-grade version of Starlink developed for the Pentagon.

Rubio suggested on Saturday that Ukraine never had access to Starshield while Zelenskyy has said both services had been disrupted in Ukraine.