A Wall Street Journal report said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered the Starlink throttling that blindsided Ukraine’s air assault forces last week, despite Musk’s claim that all decisions on the military version of Starlink are made by the US military and President Trump.

Trump denied ordering the restrictions. While Musk may have spoken to Trump and administration officials before the decision, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Musk made the final call. The decision came after both Musk and Trump criticized Ukraine for attacking Russian diesel refineries.

“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 WSJ wrote, citing unnamed US officials and people familiar with the matter. The report said that “Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the satellite-based network… rendering some offensive drones and interceptor drones virtually useless.”

Ukraine officials say the restriction affected Starshield, a satellite offering for the military that uses Starlink technology. In this case, “speed” refers to the flight speed of drones.

“The cap, imposed without warning early Thursday, cuts the Internet data connection when a communication terminal moves faster than 160 kph (100 mph), which is common for Ukrainian drones equipped with Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite service offered by SpaceX. The restriction forced the drones to fly slower than usual, making it easier for Russian weapons to target or evade them,” the Associated Press wrote last week.

Musk and Trump both denied responsibility

The Starlink and Starshield names are often used interchangeably by government officials discussing military use, and Ukraine has been known to use both the Starlink commercial service and the Starshield military variant. But Ukrainian officials have made it clear they are objecting to new restrictions on Starshield.

One WSJ source said Musk spoke to Trump and White House officials before the decision.

“Some US officials say that Musk acted unilaterally and that Trump didn’t specifically order any retribution against Ukraine. But a person familiar with the situation said Musk talked to multiple senior administration officials, including with Trump, before imposing the new speed cap, which Ukrainian officials said had allowed Russian missiles to evade their defenses,” the WSJ wrote.

CBS News yesterday said its sources indicated that “Musk held multiple conversations with administration officials leading up to the order” and “wanted clarity on the president’s thinking on the matter.”

Musk denied making the decision to limit Starshield last week. He wrote on October 14 that, unlike the Starlink commercial service, “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”

Trump told reporters on October 16, “I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all… I heard about it through the news, through the media. We didn’t slow it down at all.” Trump was asked again on Monday who ordered the slowdown and responded, “I don’t know who it was, but I’d like to find out.”

Confusion, conflicting reports

A Reuters report on October 15 stated that the “order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.”

Yesterday’s WSJ report suggests that after Ukraine complained, officials from SpaceX and the White House coordinated on messaging in an attempt to minimize the backlash. “During the uproar, SpaceX representatives called White House counterparts seeking a unified understanding and subsequent message that the company and Trump administration coordinated ahead of Musk’s directive, the people said,” according to the WSJ.

Musk’s October 14 post said that any “offensive military action” must rely on Starshield and not the Starlink commercial service. Musk has previously objected to certain US military uses of the Starlink commercial service.

Starlink’s dominance of the market for low-Earth orbit satellite broadband, and the technology’s usefulness for military operations, has given Musk a unique ability to influence the war in Ukraine. Musk first sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February 2022 after the Russian invasion disrupted broadband access.

SpaceX confirmed in 2023 that it had blocked Ukraine from using Starlink with military drones, saying its contract with Ukraine did not allow offensive uses. But in August 2024, SpaceX received a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine’s access to the military-focused Starshield, Bloomberg reported later that year.

The August 2024 deal was apparently the second such contract, and it reportedly allowed Ukraine to connect another 2,500 Starlink terminals to the Starshield network. Ukraine already had 500 terminals connected to Starshield under a previous contract, the Bloomberg report said.

Zelenskyy: Starlink/Starshield still needs to be restored

Despite those previously reported contracts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Saturday that Ukraine uses only Starlink and not Starshield. “I know Ukraine wants access to Starshield. They do not have Starshield now. They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia,” Rubio said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine uses Starshield and that the new restrictions have not been completely lifted. He wrote in an X post on Monday that the limits affect “units using Starlink/Starshield services. Unfortunately, we have established that the equipment stops functioning at speeds of 130–161 kilometers per hour in various sectors of the front.”

Zelenskyy’s office said in a press release yesterday that Zelenskyy spoke with Rubio on the phone to discuss several topics, including “the situation with Starlink/Starshield, which needs to be restored.”

Rubio told reporters today that “the president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr. Musk. That’s a private company. The president doesn’t run that company and can’t direct that company to do anything.” Rubio said the administration had “no foreknowledge” of the slowdown.

When contacted by Ars today, the White House press office reiterated Trump’s statement but provided no further details. “As President Trump said, we didn’t slow down Starlink at all, and the service is currently operational,” the White House said.

We contacted SpaceX and will update this article if it responds.