Ukraine's Starlink restrictions raise suspicions of Musk, Trump retaliation
The rupture between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over last week's diesel deal deepened Wednesday after an Elon Musk-owned satellite system used by Ukraine unexpectedly restricted service — undercutting Ukraine's fight against Russia. Why it matters: The Ukrainian military uses SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications system to control and operate its reconnaissance…
Recently, Starlink restrictions imposed by Elon Musk's company have raised suspicions of retaliation from Musk, Trump, and the U.S. government in relation to a recent diesel deal controversy between the U.S. and Ukraine. Ukraine's military relies heavily on SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications system for controlling reconnaissance and intercept drones, and when service is limited, it impacts Ukraine's ability to gather intelligence and conduct long-range strikes against Russia.
Service was partially restored on Wednesday, but Ukrainian officials are still searching for answers about the throttling of the service and who is responsible. The limitations were reported by SpaceX on Tuesday night, when the system turned off when a drone exceeded 160 km/h or 80 km/h, respectively. Ukrainian officials suspect that this was a deliberate move by SpaceX to coerce Ukraine into accepting Trump's demand not to attack Russian oil refineries.
White House officials denied having control over SpaceX and stated that they would reach out to SpaceX to find out what happened.
Written by urgent.news from Axios's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
