A bipartisan group of US senators has demanded an urgent investigation into reported restrictions on SpaceX’s Starlink network in Ukraine, amid claims that the disruption affected Kyiv’s ability to conduct defensive operations.
The letter to the US Defence Department’s inspector general, led by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, asks whether the restrictions were caused by the department or its contractors. The senators cited reports of speed limits imposed between 12 and 14 October and said the restrictions reportedly degraded Ukraine’s ability to respond to Russian drone and missile attacks on civilian infrastructure. BBC News reported on the senators’ letter and the alleged disruption.
Starlink is widely used by Ukrainian forces to maintain communications and support drone operations. The report said SpaceX restricted speeds to 100mph (160km/h) on Tuesday night, meaning weapons travelling faster than that lost connectivity to the network.
The senators also raised concerns about reported glitches affecting intelligence-sharing and threat-warning systems. They said US diplomatic, military and security personnel had at times been unable to reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids.
A US official told the BBC that “no such request was ever made by the president [Donald Trump]” when asked whether Washington had ordered the slowdown. SpaceX owner Elon Musk, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that Starshield systems were owned and controlled by the US government and that limits were decided by the US military and ultimately the president.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in Brussels on Friday that Starlink speeds were being restored but remained below their previous level. He described the slowdown as a “very dangerous and unpleasant surprise”. The episode has added to tensions between Washington and Kyiv over US pressure to halt Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, as BBC News reported in a separate account of Zelensky’s Brussels visit.