Elon Musk Ordered Starlink ‘Slowdown’ That Sparked Ukraine ‘Panic’ and ‘Confusion’ in Trump Admin: Blockbuster Report

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Elon Musk ordered a “slowdown” to Starlink in Ukraine that set off a “panic” in the country and “confusion inside” the Trump administration.

The Wall Street Journal dropped a report on Tuesday diving into a disruption in Ukraine’s Starlink-internet service as they continue fighting a war with Russia.

According to U.S. officials and three people familiar with the situation, “Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink relied on by Ukraine, a decision that sparked panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration.”

The “slowdown” came amid both President Donald Trump and Musk criticizing Ukraine for hitting Russian diesel refineries. Trump recently sparked bipartisan backlash for making a deal with Russia that included lifting sanctions.

Last week, Musk reportedly “capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network,” making many drones useless to the country.

While the new report notes “confusion” in the administration, Trump reportedly spoke to the billionaire tech mogul in a call after a “disruption” in Ukraine’s service became public. One of the people discussing the situation suggested Trump and Musk discussed the decision beforehand.

Some U.S. officials claimed Trump was aware of the decision, while others said he was not.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week there are still restrictions to his country’s Starlink service.

“SpaceX as a company tells us it is a technical problem. But our contacts in the company say it is coming from the White House. When we ask the White House, they say it is Elon,” a Ukrainian official told Axios.

The Journal reported that Space X representatives contacted their White House counterparts during backlash over Ukraine’s service disruption. They were reportedly “seeking a unified understanding and subsequent message that the company and Trump administration coordinated ahead of Musk’s directive.”

Musk responded to news about the slowdown in service by declaring, “Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”

“Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company,” he wrote.

The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
The single summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting from both sides of the aisle. Subscribe now!