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Ukraine says Starlink was throttled overnight; Musk says the US military sets the limits
Kyiv says a sudden speed cap on Starlink terminals hobbled its drones as Russian missiles struck the capital for a second night. Zelenskyy called it a big mistake.
Key points
- Ukraine says Starlink service was cut without warning for terminals moving faster than 100 mph.
- Elon Musk said the US military and the president decide any limits on Starshield.
- Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv for a second night, killing at least nine people.
Ukraine accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Wednesday of slowing its Starlink satellite internet without warning, saying the change crippled the drones its forces rely on just as Russian ballistic missiles pounded Kyiv for a second night running.
An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said service was limited overnight for terminals travelling faster than 100 miles an hour. Ukrainian officials said the cap restricted their ability to launch drones, which are piloted over satellite links.
Musk replied on X that he does not make that call. Limits on speed or usage for Starshield, the military version of Starlink, are set by the US military and ultimately by the US president, he wrote. The White House would neither confirm nor deny his account, and the Pentagon did not immediately comment.
“A big mistake”
Zelenskyy told the programme Piers Morgan Uncensored that the restriction was “a big mistake” that would cost many lives.
Serhii Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian defence technology adviser, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine had been robbed of one of its few ways to defend itself against Russia’s Shahed drones, and that frontline supply runs and long-range missions had also been disrupted. Coming after Trump struck a deal with Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, the slowdown “cannot be a coincidence”, he said.
Criticism also came from Ukraine’s allies. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen said the restrictions must end at once because lives were at stake, and reminded the Pentagon that it must notify Congress if it pauses or downgrades intelligence sharing with Kyiv. Poland, which pays for Ukraine’s Starlink subscriptions, was sharper. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked whether Musk was playing politics with his products. The two clashed publicly in 2025, and Musk said at the time that Starlink would never switch off Ukraine’s terminals or use them as a bargaining chip.
Missiles over Kyiv
The row broke as Russia struck Kyiv with ballistic missiles for a second consecutive night, killing at least nine people and damaging electricity and heating infrastructure as winter approaches. Zelenskyy said Ukraine had not received its usual warnings from Western partners for a second day, without naming them.
People familiar with the matter have said Washington threatened to withhold the intelligence Ukraine uses for early warning of missile launches, to press Kyiv into halting its drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. Trump said on Tuesday that the US had not stopped sharing intelligence.
An uneasy truce
The pressure follows Trump’s announcement on 11 October of an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, which the Kremlin has never confirmed and which Russian strikes on Ukraine’s grid have repeatedly tested. Last week Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel to ease soaring fuel prices at home, and on Saturday he blamed Zelenskyy for high diesel prices in the US.
Zelenskyy said it was “painful” that Trump had picked a side. If the United States is in the middle, he said, it “has to stay in the middle”.