Service returned to "full capacity" after more than a day, a Ukrainian official told Axios; Thom Tillis (Sen-R North Carolina) asked the Pentagon inspector general to investigate.
Starshield is the military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet, bought by the U.S. government for Ukraine's forces. Ukrainian terminals lost service whenever the drone or aircraft carrying them flew faster than 100 mph (160 km/h). A Ukrainian official told Axios that service came back to full capacity after more than a day. Reuters' three sources said the order came from inside the White House but did not name who gave it or who carried it out.
The denial. A senior U.S. official told Bloomberg that Trump himself did not restrict Ukraine's access.
The pushback. Tillis called the outage "at best... an unacceptable error or lapse" and, at worst, a deliberate choice to "clear the field for a Russian attack." Britain's defense secretary plans to raise it with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Still open. Who in the White House gave the order, and under what authority. No directive or named official has surfaced.
Catch up
By Wednesday, Oct. 14, Ukraine's Starshield terminals were still cutting out above 160 km/h (100 mph) despite a partial fix. Elon Musk said the U.S. military and ultimately Trump set the limit; a senior U.S. official told Axios the administration had nothing to do with it.
What this cutoff did to Ukraine's drones
- Interceptor drones chasing Russia's jet-powered Geran-4 drones, which fly 300–400 km/h (186–249 mph), lost their link above the cap.
- The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps reported 10–20-second dropouts at just 110–120 km/h (68–75 mph) and canceled several missions.
- Long-range refinery raids were not affected; per The Guardian, those drones do not use Starlink.