The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the White House ordered restrictions on “Starlink” operations in Ukraine.
He stated this in a conversation with journalists.
“It wasn’t deliberate. We have nothing to do with that. I don’t – the United States, nobody ordered that ʼStarlinkʼ speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored. It’s back to where it was before,” says the Secretary of State.
Separately, Rubio emphasized that he was talking about the commercial “Starlink” service, not the military “Starshield” system. According to him, Ukraine currently does not have access to “Starshield”, although Kyiv has requested it for long-range strikes deep into Russia. The Undersecretary emphasized that this issue is still being discussed.
"ʼStarshieldʼ is a contract with the US military. It has nothing to do with Ukraine. I know Ukraine wants access to ʼStarshieldʼ. They do not have ʼStarshieldʼ now. They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct deep strikes inside of Russia. They do not have access to it at this moment. Those are two different products," he noted.
What preceded
Babelʼs sources in the Ministry of Defense stated that on the night of October 14, “SpaceX” unilaterally restricted the operation of “Starshield” terminals, a military version of “Starlink” satellite communications. According to our sources, the Ukrainian Defense Forces were not notified of this decision.
Before that, the media wrote that the US was threatening to block the sale of weapons to Ukraine and the exchange of intelligence due to strikes on Russian refineries.
Commenting on this situation, the “SpaceX” founder Elon Musk wrote that the “Starshield” systems are controlled by the US government, so the speed limits and rules for their use are determined by the US military, and the final decision is made by President Donald Trump.
However, Reuters wrote that the order to restrict “Starshield” work for Ukraine came from the White House. They denied this and explained the situation as a "technical malfunction".
On October 15, Babelʼs sources in the Ministry of Defense reported that the work of “Starshield” in motion has already been restored and is ongoing. At the same time, Volodymyr Zelensky noted the next day that the networkʼs work has not yet been fully restored. He separately noted that due to speed restrictions, Ukraine has lost the ability to shoot down Shahed jets.
Axios wrote on October 17 that Elon Musk proposed limiting the speed of “Starlink” for Ukraine, and Donald Trump agreed.
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