NEW DELHI, October 22 (Aalimi Nation) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that decisions on Ukraine's access to Starlink rest with SpaceX and its chief executive, Elon Musk, and not with the White House, as conflicting accounts continue over who ordered a slowdown of the satellite service Kyiv uses in the war with Russia.
Speaking during a visit to India, Rubio said he did not know whether the administration had been told in advance of the slowdown, but called the question "irrelevant". "The bottom line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract," he said, referring to the terms on which the service can be used and at what speeds.
Competing accounts
Musk had earlier posted on X that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS", a reference to the US president.
President Donald Trump, asked on Wednesday whether Musk had ordered the slowdown, said he did not know who did it but added: "I was not involved." On Tuesday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described the matter as commercial, saying there were "terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to".
A report published on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, said Musk ordered a slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukraine uses to defend against Russian missile attacks. According to one source in that account, Musk, Trump and White House officials discussed the matter beforehand; two others said Musk and Trump discussed it in the days after the slowdown.
Another account, attributed to two US officials and a Western official, said the decision ultimately came from the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed that version, which the Trump administration denied.
What Ukraine says happened
On October 14, Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said on Telegram that SpaceX had capped Starshield services at 160 km/h (100 mph). That limit affected guidance systems for drones that Ukraine uses to intercept Russian drones, which fly considerably faster.
Beskrestnov said Ukraine's forces received no advance warning and that missions were disrupted. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence confirmed on October 15 that services had resumed.
Product confusion
The dispute has been complicated by a difference over what Ukraine actually uses. Zelenskyy has said both Starshield and Starlink were disrupted. Rubio, however, said on Saturday that Ukraine had never had access to Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink developed for the Pentagon. The sources do not make clear how the two products are separated in Ukraine's networks.
Why it matters
The episode may increase scrutiny of how decisions are made over throttling a system that Kyiv relies on to intercept incoming projectiles and to target Russian launchers.
It remains unconfirmed who gave the final order for the slowdown and whether the White House knew about it beforehand. Accounts on both points conflict, and SpaceX and Musk had not responded to requests for comment on the matter in the reports available on Thursday.
Further statements from Washington, SpaceX and Kyiv are likely as the account of the October slowdown is tested against official records. Ukraine has said service was restored on October 15.
