Audio By Carbonatix
Hanlon’s razor cautions us to never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. Perhaps that explains the interruption in the availability of Starshield, the satellite communications network, to Ukraine, but we have our doubts.
President Trump followed up his execrable diesel deal with Russia with a pressure campaign against Ukrainian President Zelensky that coincided with Starshield being throttled down.
When Starshield — the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink, which Elon Musk’s company provides on a contract basis to the Pentagon — went down for about 72 hours, it had devastating consequences for Ukraine. Though Starshield can be used by Kyiv for offensive attacks, it is most useful in providing services critical to Ukraine’s air defenses against Russian aerial assault. While the system was throttled down and the Ukrainians were vulnerable, the Kremlin conducted some of the most intensive aerial attacks against Ukrainian territory since the war began, firing 39 ballistic missiles and 128 Shahed drones, primarily at Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s largest cities. Dozens were killed and wounded in the strikes, and Zelensky’s government says 26 power facilities and four oil and gas facilities were damaged. As colder weather approaches, more than 600,000 people lost power in the capital.
In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday, an obviously angry Ukrainian president said the Starshield slowdown was a “message” to his country that “came from government,” i.e., the American government. Lamenting the recent Trump administration decisions, Zelensky said that “if United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable.” “It’s a tragedy,” he added. “It’s a historic mistake.”
Both Donald Trump and Elon Musk have publicly denied that they ordered restrictions on Starshield. But it should raise eyebrows that Musk pointedly tweeted that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” On Tuesday, The Telegraph reported that its sources say that Musk approached Trump with the idea to degrade Ukraine’s access to Starshield and the president “agreed.”
The good news is that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and President Zelensky had what both sides are characterizing as a productive meeting, where it was agreed to restore Starshield and preserve Ukrainian access to it going forward.
But it shouldn’t have come to this.
On September 18, President Trump signed into law the aptly named Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The law may not have been perfect, but it was widely seen at the time as an important step in keeping the pressure on Russia and its allies. A month later, Trump is waiving the pressure points that Congress enacted on the Kremlin, and for no discernible American interest. At the same time, his negotiators, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are reportedly negotiating the outlines of the purchase of Lukoil, a Kremlin-aligned Russian energy firm, in an apparent bid to build confidence with Moscow for future negotiations on a wider range of matters.
A bipartisan group of nine U.S. senators has demanded an inspector general investigation into the Starshield disruptions. But Congress should provide real oversight by holding public hearings and calling witnesses under oath to explain why its legislative intent was so directly undermined.
President Trump has long desired to normalize relations with Russia. He views such a goal as in the American interest, and he views the continuation of Russia’s war in Ukraine as an obstacle to that goal. But he should remember — or relearn — that Russia is the aggressor in that invasion and that it is a self-conscious and willing pillar of an anti-American axis that includes China, Iran, and North Korea. Moreover, the Kremlin is actively aiding Iran’s operations against the United States in the Persian Gulf. Vladimir Putin seeks to diminish America’s place in the world and enhance Russia’s. Neither Trump nor his party nor the United States will gain any benefit from abandoning Ukraine to the wolves or attempting to appease Russia into doing something that it has no power to do, which is to lower the price at American pumps.