Ukraine’s access to Starlink a decision for Elon Musk, Rubio says

US secretary of state says White House not to blame for reported speed limits on internet services in Ukraine.

An artilleryman of Ukraine's Special Rifle Police Battalion sets up a Starlink satellite internet system near the front line in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on October 16, 2026 [Reuters]

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio says decisions about Ukraine’s access to Starlink are in the hands of its parent company, SpaceX, and CEO Elon Musk, not the White House, in response to claims it was involved in restricting Kyiv’s access to satellite internet services.

Rubio’s comments on Wednesday may increase scrutiny of US decision-making to potentially throttle the high-tech system, which allows Kyiv to intercept incoming projectiles and target Russian launchers.

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The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had ordered a slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukraine relies on for defence against Russian missile attacks.

The Journal quoted one person as saying Musk, US President Donald Trump and White House officials discussed the matter beforehand and two people as saying Musk and the president discussed the matter in the days after the slowdown.

The Reuters news agency has quoted two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter as saying the decision ultimately came from the White House.

This version was also confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but denied by the Trump administration.

‘Missions disrupted’

Zelenskyy adviser Serhii Beskrestnov wrote on the Telegram messaging app on October 14 that SpaceX had imposed a limit of 160 kilometres per hour (100 miles per hour) on Starshield services. That affected guidance systems for drones that Ukraine uses to intercept Russian drones flying at far greater speeds.

“Our defence forces received no prior warning regarding this restriction, and it has led to the disruption of a number of missions,” Beskrestnov said.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence confirmed the resumption of services on October 15.

Rubio told reporters during a trip to India on Wednesday that he was not aware if the administration knew about the decision beforehand but said it was “irrelevant”.

“The bottom line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract as to how their stuff can be used and what speeds they’ll allow it to be used at,” he said.

Musk had previously said on X that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS (President of the United States).”

Trump, asked by reporters on Wednesday whether Musk ordered the slowdown, said he did not know who did it but “I was not involved.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Tuesday also portrayed the Starlink cutoff as a commercial matter.

“There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that’s where Starlink has the option to make those decisions,” he said.

One significant point of confusion relates to the difference between SpaceX’s Starshield and Starlink products. Starshield is essentially a military-grade version of Starlink developed for the Pentagon.

Rubio suggested on Saturday that Ukraine never had access to Starshield while Zelenskyy has said both services had been disrupted in Ukraine.

美国国务卿表示，白宫不应为乌克兰互联网服务速度受限的报道负责。

2026年10月16日，乌克兰特种步枪警察营的一名炮兵在乌克兰东部顿涅茨克地区的前线附近架设星链卫星互联网系统。[路透社]

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥表示，关于乌克兰能否接入星链的决定权在于其母公司SpaceX及其首席执行官埃隆·马斯克，而不是白宫。此前有指控称白宫参与限制基辅接入卫星互联网服务。

鲁比奥周三的言论可能会加大对美国决策的审查力度，因为美国有可能扼杀这一高科技系统，该系统使基辅能够拦截来袭的炮弹并瞄准俄罗斯的发射阵地。

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鲁比奥称，美国并未暂停与乌克兰的情报共享（共3条记录中的第2条）。

3/3 美乌关系恶化，特朗普与泽连斯基在会谈和军备问题上发生冲突

《华尔街日报》周二报道称，马斯克已下令放缓“星盾”（Starshield）项目的进度。“星盾”是“星链”（Starlink）的军用版本，乌克兰依靠它来防御俄罗斯的导弹袭击。

《华尔街日报》援引一位人士的话说，马斯克、美国总统唐纳德·特朗普和白宫官员事先讨论过此事；另有两位人士表示，马斯克和总统在经济放缓后的几天里讨论过此事。

路透社援引两名美国官员和一名了解此事的西方官员的话说，最终的决定来自白宫。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基也证实了这一说法，但特朗普政府予以否认。

“任务中断”

泽连斯基的顾问谢尔盖·别斯克列斯特诺夫10月14日在Telegram上发文称，SpaceX公司已将“星盾”服务的速度限制在每小时160公里（每小时100英里）。这影响了乌克兰用于拦截速度远高于此的俄罗斯无人机的无人机的制导系统。

“我们的国防部队事先没有收到任何关于这项限制的警告，这导致许多任务受到干扰，”贝斯克列斯特诺夫说。

乌克兰国防部确认，相关服务已于10月15日恢复。

鲁比奥周三在访问印度期间告诉记者，他不知道政府是否事先知道这一决定，但他表示这“无关紧要”。

他说：“归根结底，这取决于私人商业合同，合同规定了他们的设备可以使用哪些功能以及允许的使用速度。”

马斯克此前在X上表示，“任何速度或使用限制都由美国军方决定，最终由美国总统决定。”

周三，当记者问特朗普是否是马斯克下令放缓经济时，特朗普表示他不知道是谁下的命令，但他“没有参与”。

五角大楼负责人皮特·赫格塞斯周二也将星链断网事件描述为商业问题。

他说：“最终必须遵守服务条款，而星链可以选择做出这些决定。”

一个容易混淆的地方在于SpaceX的Starshield和Starlink产品之间的区别。Starshield本质上是为五角大楼开发的军用级Starlink版本。

鲁比奥周六表示，乌克兰从未获得过 Starshield 服务，而泽连斯基则表示，这两项服务在乌克兰都受到了干扰。