SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said the U.S. government — and ultimately President Donald Trump — is responsible for any limits placed on Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite internet service, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a sudden slowdown left people dead.
Musk made the remark Wednesday in a post on X, replying to former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who had urged him to lift a speed limit on Starshield. In the same post, Musk drew a distinction between the two services. «Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,» Musk wrote. He added that Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX, and that its use is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, which he said would be inappropriate for a commercial company.
Fedorov had written that Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour was being restored, and that removing Starshield's speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine's defense. He thanked Musk in the post.
The dispute follows an abrupt change in service. SpaceX capped Starshield terminals in motion at 100 miles per hour overnight without warning, disrupting several military missions, according to presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov. A Defense Ministry source said the restriction complicates drone missions, specifically those involving interceptors and mid-range strike drones, and hampers capabilities for frontline logistics, reconnaissance, and signal relay. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said the actual limits were significantly lower during the day, but service had stabilized by evening with the cap still in place.
In an interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, Zelenskyy said people were killed because interceptor drones relying on Starlink did not work. Morgan pointed out that only four of 40 ballistic missiles fired at Ukraine had been shot down and asked whether Musk, who Morgan said had recently called for a new Ukrainian president, had deliberately slowed the service. «I'm sure that they knew what they did. Absolutely. Because it was 1 a.m.,» Zelenskyy replied. He said Starlink was blocked by SpaceX and by the United States, and that there was no working information about ballistic missiles before the attack before the Starlinks were switched off. «And when you destroy Shaheds, and often when we destroy jet Shaheds, we use drones with Starlinks … So people were killed because not enough destroying, not enough interceptors, including interceptors with Starlink, which didn't work, of course,» Zelenskyy said. He also told Morgan he hoped the slowdown was only a mistake.
Beskrestnov said earlier that the action could not be a coincidence and was associated with the current political situation. The White House has not commented on the restriction.
The satellite slowdown came days after Trump publicly warned Zelenskyy to stop refinery strikes, in remarks the White House shared on X. «We told Zelensky, 'You can do whatever you want to Russia, but don't hit the refineries because that's a world problem.' And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel. He better damn well stop,» Trump said on Oct. 10. Musk wrote the same day, sharing the clip, that «Zelensky has gone too far.»
The episode has thrust the ownership and control of battlefield communications into public view, with Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian attack drones and ballistic missiles now tied to decisions made in Washington. For Kyiv, the practical question is whether the restored speeds will hold and whether the Starshield cap will be lifted entirely. For Musk, the exchange offered a way to separate SpaceX's commercial Starlink service from the government-controlled Starshield system, even as he named the president as the ultimate decision-maker on limits that Ukrainian officials say cost lives.