Donald Trump denied ordering restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite service and said he did not think Elon Musk was responsible. His 16 October comments followed conflicting accounts about where the instructions originated. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said connection speeds had not fully recovered, after limits affected drones and interceptors used against Russian attacks.
US President Donald Trump denied ordering restrictions on Ukraine’s access to Starshield when reporters questioned him on 16 October. He also said he did not think Elon Musk was responsible. Trump expressed uncertainty about whether the service had been slowed and said that, as he understood it, it was operating as before. His comments added his personal denial to conflicting accounts about the restrictions.[1], [2]
Reuters had reported a day earlier, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter, that the order originated inside the White House. An administration official had separately denied that account. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that connection speeds had not been fully restored. His account of continuing disruption stood alongside Trump’s uncertainty over whether the service had changed.[1]
Starshield is SpaceX’s military-grade satellite service designed for the Pentagon and built on the civilian Starlink infrastructure. A limit of 160 km per hour affected faster-moving equipment during the week. Ukraine said drones and interceptors used against Russian attacks were impaired. Musk said decisions on military-service speed and usage limits belonged to the US government. A bipartisan group of US senators requested an investigation into the disruption.[1]
