White House calls “Starshield” restrictions in Ukraine a “technical malfunction”. The US Senate initiates investigation

Republican Senator from North Carolina Tom Tillis said he would ask the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense to investigate restrictions on the operation of the “Starshield” systems in Ukraine.

He wrote about this in X.

The senator believes that the situation could have occurred at a more local level, within the Pentagonʼs “Starshield” systems, rather than from “Starlink” or “SpaceX”.

"I do not expect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide transparency on this matter, so we will be calling on the Department of Defense Inspector General to launch an investigation and report to Congress and the American people," Tillis wrote.

He said the restrictions put Ukrainian civilians as well as American diplomats and security personnel at risk without warning. Tillis called the situation “at best an unacceptable mistake or oversight, and at worst a deliberate decision to clear the way for a Russian attack”.

Meanwhile, the Administration of the US President Donald Trump denies involvement in restricting the operation of the “Starlink” satellite terminals for Ukraine, Axios reports.

According to the publication, on October 14, advisers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with White House, CIA and Pentagon officials and tried to find out whether Ukraineʼs access to communications was being restricted and how it could be fixed. However, the White House denied involvement in this and explained the situation as a “technical malfunction”.

Axios sources say White House officials have told Ukrainians that they do not control “SpaceX”. One source said the Trump administration intends to reach out to “SpaceX” to find out what happened.

• On the night of October 14, “SpaceX” unilaterally restricted the operation of the “Starshield” terminals, a military version of the “Starlink” satellite communication system. The Ukrainian Defense Forces were not notified of this decision. Prior to this, media outlets reported that the United States was threatening to block arms sales to Ukraine and intelligence sharing over strikes on Russian refineries.
• The “SpaceX” founder Elon Musk responded in a comment to Mykhailo Fedorovʼs post that the “Starshield” systems are controlled by the US government, so speed and usage limits are determined by the US military, and the final decision is made by President Donald Trump.

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