Joe Barnes
Elon Musk approached Donald Trump with the idea of slowing down Starlink in Ukraine, The Telegraph can reveal.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur approached the US president with the proposal to introduce speed limits on the system, which hampered Ukraine’s drone defences, according to four sources familiar with the discussions.
One of the sources said Trump “agreed” with Musk’s suggestion, paving the way for the Pentagon to execute the slowdown on Starshield, the military-grade version of the satellite communications system.
Musk had previously blamed Trump for the chaos, claiming any changes would have been decided by the US military and ultimately the president.
At the time, Trump was embroiled in a row with Volodymyr Zelensky over Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries.
US officials had warned Kyiv’s team of peace negotiators that Washington could shut off intelligence-sharing and other kinds of support if the long-range attacks were not halted.
Earlier this week, one of Zelensky’s advisers said Musk’s SpaceX had restricted access to the Starshield system, used by Kyiv to intercept jet-powered drones and strike behind enemy lines.
Speaking on the fringes of an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, the Ukrainian president called the slowdown a “very dangerous and unpleasant surprise”.
On Wednesday, Musk denied he was responsible for limiting Starlink access, blaming the White House. He claimed that “any limits on speed or usage” were “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”, referring to Trump.
However, after what was described as a “night of carnage” in Kyiv because of the blackout, a senior source said Musk had been alarmed about the possibility of adverse consumer reaction in Europe.
The source said: “He tweeted out that he was innocent and that it was the US administration that did it. The reality is that they were both in it.”
A high-ranking European official and two well-placed Ukrainian sources confirmed this version of events.
Speaking at the White House on Friday evening, Trump said he did not think either he nor Musk had been responsible for Ukraine losing Starlink access.
On Friday, an anonymous US official, cited in a report by the AFP, insisted that Trump did not make the request for a reduction of Starshield’s services for Ukraine. “No request was ever made by the president,” the US official said, after a report by Reuters claimed the decision came from the White House.
The Pentagon has not publicly explained the restrictions.
Starshield is a military-grade version of Musk’s Starlink satellite network that allows pilots to stay in touch with drones moving at high speed.
The speed cap imposed on Ukraine limited drones using the Starshield system to around 160km/h, making it virtually impossible to intercept Russia’s barrages of jet-powered drones and missiles, which travel double the speed.
On Friday, Zelensky said signals were being restored. He said: “Our defence ministry is in touch and my partners, they told me that there were signals from the White House that they would return these capabilities. Have they returned to the previous speed limits? No. But is it coming back now? Yes.”
It is not the first time Musk has been accused of limiting the use of his Starlink platform to the detriment of Ukraine.
In 2023, he confirmed he had rebutted requests by Kyiv to use the system in drone attacks on Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia, to avoid being complicit in a “major act of war”.
However, Musk was lauded by Ukrainians earlier this year for his direct role in blocking illegal access to Starlink by Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
‘We are watching you’
A source told The Telegraph that Poland had been leading warnings against Europe becoming too reliant on Musk or his SpaceX company.
Writing on social media, Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, warned the tech billionaire: “As your European customers, we are watching you.”
The EU is planning to have its Iris2, a Starlink replacement, operational by 2030. Zelensky arrived in Brussels bruised and seeking more support from his European allies after his war of words with Mr Trump.
Diplomats said leaders had advised the Ukrainian president to tone down his criticism of his US counterpart amid fears Washington could further withdraw its support for Kyiv.
Trump has been highly critical of Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s oil refineries, blaming them for soaring energy prices before the midterm elections next month.
“All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher,” Trump told the Newsmax television channel. “Well, I think that’s a disgrace.”
Last Friday, he announced a deal to lift sanctions on Russia to purchase hundreds of thousands of diesel from Vladimir Putin.
Europeans rallied around Zelensky, applauding him as he entered the room for just over an hour of discussions with the EU’s prime ministers and heads of state on Friday.
The Ukrainian president later said he had heard “only support”. In the room, he told EU leaders that the war would cost some €155bn ($250bn) in 2027. “And we need at least €70 billion more from you – for defence, for weapons and for our resilience,” he told them. “This is a realistic amount.”
Zelensky also hinted he would continue to defy Trump’s order to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, telling reporters that “the main rule of our operations is to respond – other things you will see”.
In a humorous moment, the Ukrainian president offered only a smirk when he was questioned by a reporter over being made a “scapegoat” for Trump’s domestic problems.
“That is my answer,” Zelensky said before walking off stage.
The Telegraph has approached SpaceX for comment.
The Telegraph, UK
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.