Billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk directed an intentional slowdown of Ukraine's essential military Starlink network, sparking widespread alarm in Kyiv and leaving the Trump administration bewildered, The Wall Street Journal, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported.
Earlier in the day, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth denied that the United States ordered any reductions or restrictions to the military-grade Starshield satellite network relied upon by Ukraine, addressing questions regarding whether the service has been scaled back on the battlefield.
Clarifying Washington's position during a gaggle with the press, Hegseth emphasised that the US military has not instructed any changes to the satellite service.
"We haven't pulled anything back," Hegseth said. "Nothing's changed from our view. We haven't made any directives or anything like that. And we wish the Ukrainians obviously success."
Hegseth indicated that any operational changes or performance adjustments to the communications system would fall under the satellite provider's contractual terms.
"There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied with," Hegseth added, noting that "that's where Starlink has the option to make those decisions."
A similar clarification was voiced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also refuted Washington’s involvement in the reported disruption of Starlink connectivity in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Rubio explained that Starlink is a commercial product and is not operated by the White House. Addressing the reports of Starshield disruptions, he said that Ukraine currently does not have access to the defence product.
Starshield is controlled by the US government, and Starlink is a commercial service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Rubio said, “Starshield is a defence and military product; that is something that the United States military uses. It is not available to Ukraine, and it is under discussion how they want to use it. I don’t know if Zelenskyy knows what he is talking about. In the United States, nobody ordered Starlink's speed to be slowed down. In my understanding, it has been restored. That is Starlink; they were using Starlink. Starshield is in contract with the US military, and has nothing to do with Ukraine.” - ANI
