"Anyone who restricts Starshield for Ukraine will be held to account by Congress," - Republican Fitzpatrick

The American Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has stated that anyone who attempts to restrict the use of Starshield in support of Ukraine will face investigations, congressional hearings and severe cuts to the funding of the relevant agency or its head.

He wrote about this on Monday on the social media platform X, according to Censor.NET.

What he promised regarding Starshield

Fitzpatrick said that this week he would be speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team about Starshield, sanctions and other issues relating to Ukraine’s defence. Starshield is the military version of the Starlink satellite system, developed by SpaceX.

According to the Congressman, he will assure Mr Zelenskyy that "anyone who attempts to restrict the use of Starshield for Ukraine will be thoroughly investigated and held fully accountable, including through public oversight hearings in Congress and immediate, severe and punitive budget cuts for any agency responsible or its head".

Sanctions, oil and aid

Fitzpatrick stated that Congress would "unequivocally confirm" that Ukraine is an indispensable ally of the US, whilst Russia is a self-proclaimed enemy of the United States, and that Washington will give its full support to and defend the people of Ukraine in their struggle for freedom against "a brutal, illegal and unprovoked Russian invasion".

"The United States must provide Ukraine with whatever defensive weapons it needs for its self-defence. The United States must not import a single drop of Russian oil. Sanctions against the Russian regime must be tougher and more severe than ever before", he wrote.

According to him, each of these items will be put to a vote in the House of Representatives and passed by an "overwhelming majority".

"That, after all, is what Ronald Reagan would have done. And that is what we will do now. Ukraine may well defeat Russia," Fitzpatrick concluded.

Restrictions on Starlink’s operations in Ukraine

On 14 October, Serhiy Sternenko, a volunteer and former adviser to the Minister of Defence, 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 Sergei Beskrestnov (Flash). According to him, the restrictions may also make it more difficult to use drones designed to intercept jet-powered suicide drones.
Units of the 7th Corps of the Airborne Forces also reported that they had begun to experience problems with the Starlink connection in the Huliaipole sector last night. This concerns the Starshield package – the so-called military package, which previously had no data transfer speed restrictions.
Later, former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that the network was being restored to speeds of up to 160 km/h.
At the same time, Elon Musk stated that he is not the one who sets the restrictions on Starshield, which Ukraine is using. This system is controlled by the US government, not by SpaceX.
According to Reuters, the n order imposing restrictions on Starshield for Ukraine was issued by the White House.
On 16 October, US President Trump stated that Washington was not responsible for the delay in the deployment of the Starlink (Starshield) satellite communications ‘military package’ for the Ukrainian armed forces.
On 19 October, Zelenskyy reported that, in various sectors of the front line, Ukrainian military equipment fitted with the Starlink system ceases to function at speeds of 130–161 kilometres per hour.