The US President Donald Trump said that Elon Musk has already lifted the speed limit for the military version of “Starlink” in Ukraine.
He said this while talking to reporters on October 22.
Trump added that he has a very good relationship with Musk, but declined to specify whether he had called him personally about this matter.
Earlier, WSJ, citing American and Ukrainian officials, wrote that Trump called the founder of “SpaceX” and asked to remove the restrictions. According to the publication, after this conversation, the system began to operate at higher speeds, although its functionality was not fully restored.
"Whether I called or someone else did, it doesnʼt matter. The main point is that he restored everything," the US president said.
At the same time, the advisor to the President of Ukraine on communications Dmytro Lytvyn wrote in X that nothing had changed: "We see the same limit."
What preceded
On the night of October 14, “SpaceX” without warning restricted the operation of “Starshield” terminals, the military version of “Starlink” satellite communications. The “SpaceX” founder Elon Musk said that the “Starshield” systems are controlled by the US government, so their use is determined by the US military, and the final decision is made by the president. The White House called the “Starshield” restrictions in Ukraine a “technical malfunction”.
On October 15, Babelʼs sources in the Ministry of Defense reported that the “Starshield” operation had already resumed and was ongoing. At the same time, Zelensky noted the next day that the network had not yet fully resumed. He separately noted that due to the speed limit, Ukraine had lost the ability to shoot down “Shahed” jet drones.
According to Zelensky, the order to restrict “Starlink” operations in Ukraine came from the US government, and was technically carried out by “SpaceX”. The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied this and advised him to be more careful with such statements.
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