President Donald Trump said Elon Musk restored Ukraine’s access to SpaceX satellite communications, but Ukrainian and European officials said limits on the military-grade Starshield system may still be in place.
Trump told reporters on Oct. 22 that the system was operating again but declined to say whether he had personally spoken with the SpaceX chief.
“The bottom line is, he put it back,” Trump said, according to Reuters.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that Trump called Musk on Wednesday and asked him to remove restrictions on Ukraine’s military satellite service. The network was working more normally on Thursday, although some Ukrainian officials said it had not returned to full functionality.
Kyiv Says Full Speed Has Not Returned
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the system’s speed had not yet returned to its previous level.
A senior European official familiar with operations in Ukraine told The Associated Press that Starshield still had a speed cap of about 100 mph, or 160 kph.
Starlink is SpaceX’s civilian satellite network. Starshield is its military-grade version and is used by Ukraine for secure communications, data transmission and drone operations. Public statements often refer broadly to “Starlink,” creating uncertainty about which parts of the service have been fully restored.
The slowdown disrupted Ukrainian drone missions and battlefield communications. Ukrainian officials also said the restriction reduced the effectiveness of systems used to track and intercept Russian missiles and drones.
Conflicting Accounts From Washington and SpaceX
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, has opened an inquiry into the restrictions and sent requests for information to Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
U.S. officials have offered conflicting explanations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hegseth denied that the White House ordered the restrictions and pointed to decisions by SpaceX. Musk has said Starshield is controlled by the U.S. government and that operational restrictions are determined by the military and the president.
Neither Washington nor SpaceX has released public technical evidence showing that all limits have been removed. Whether the military network again works at the speeds required by Ukrainian drones and air-defense operations remains the central issue.
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