Musk personally suggested to Trump that Starlink’s operations for Ukraine be restricted, – Telegraph
Billionaire Elon Musk himself approached Donald Trump with a proposal to impose speed limits on Starlink in Ukraine, which had compromised the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ anti-drone defences. The US President reportedly agreed, enabling the Pentagon to implement the speed reduction on the military version of the Starshield system.
This was reported by The Telegraph, citing four informed sources, as reported by Censor.NET.
Musk the initiator
According to the publication, Musk approached the US President with a proposal to impose speed restrictions on the system, which, as the journalists write, has hampered the operation of Ukrainian drones and air defence systems.
One of the sources stated that Trump "agreed" with this idea and paved the way for the Pentagon to implement the speed reduction on Starshield — the military version of the satellite communication system.
The publication notes that on 14 October, Musk publicly blamed Trump for the chaos, claiming that any changes are decided by the US military and, ultimately, the president.
According to a senior source at The Telegraph, following what was described in Kyiv as a "night of bloody carnage" due to the power cut, Musk was concerned about a possible negative reaction from consumers in Europe.
"He wrote that he was not to blame and that it was the US administration that had done it. In reality, they are both involved in this," the source said. According to the publication, this version of events was confirmed by a senior European official and two Ukrainian sources.
Restrictions on Starlink operations in Ukraine
- On 14 October, volunteer and former adviser to the Minister of Defence Serhiy Sternenko stated that, during the night, SpaceX had restricted the operation of Starlink terminals for the Ukrainian military. As a result, he said, "a number of important missions were disrupted". The restrictions were imposed on data transmission depending on the speed of the UAVs using Starlink.
- This information was subsequently confirmed by Serhiy Beskrestnov (Flash). According to him, the restrictions may also complicate the use of drones designed to intercept jet-powered ‘shahids’.
- Units of the 7th Airborne Corps also reported that they began to experience problems with Starlink connectivity in the Huliaipole sector last night. This concerns the Starshield package — the so-called military package, which previously had no data transmission speed restrictions.
- Later, former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that network operations were being restored at speeds of up to 160 km/h.
- Meanwhile, Elon Musk stated that he does not set the limits for Starshield, which Ukraine uses. This system is controlled by the US government, not SpaceX.
- According to Reuters, the order to restrict Starshield for Ukraine came from the White House.
