Musk asked Trump to slow Ukraine’s Starlink, Telegraph says

Elon Musk went to President Donald Trump with the idea of capping speeds on the satellite service Ukraine's military relies on, The Telegraph reported on Friday, citing four sources familiar with the discussions. One source said Trump "agreed," which cleared the way for the Pentagon to impose the slowdown on Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink. If accurate, the account conflicts with Musk's public position. Days earlier, he had put responsibility on the US military and the president.telegraph.co.uk

Conflicting accounts

On Wednesday, Musk wrote on X that "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government" and that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately (the president)," the Kyiv Independent reported. A senior source told The Telegraph that after a "night of carnage" in Kyiv, Musk worried about how European consumers would react. "He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the US administration that did it. The reality is that they were both in it," the source said. According to the paper, a high-ranking European official and two Ukrainian sources confirmed this version of events.yahoo.com+1

Trump rejected blame for both men. "It wasn't me and I don't think it was Elon," he said on Friday. On Thursday, Reuters reported that the order came from inside the White House, citing two US officials and a Western official. A senior US official said that "no such request was ever made by the president". The Pentagon has not publicly explained the restrictions.telegraph.co.uk+2

Impact on the battlefield

The cap took effect without warning overnight from October 13 to 14. It limited moving terminals to 160 km/h (100 mph), and some units lost connection at lower speeds. Speaking at an EU summit in Brussels, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "we were unable to intercept some of the jet-powered Shaheds". He also called the slowdown a "very dangerous and unpleasant surprise." On Friday, he said capabilities were returning but had not yet reached their previous speeds.telegraph.co.uk+2

Rising tension with Washington

The restrictions arrived during a dispute over Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries. US officials had warned Kyiv that intelligence-sharing could be cut off if the strikes continued. British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told him access had been restored. Poland's foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, sent Musk a warning: "As your European customers, we are watching you".independent.co.uk+1