Musk ordered Starshield restrictions that disrupted Ukrainian drones - WSJ
Elon Musk personally ordered restrictions on Ukraine's military-grade Starlink satellite service, disrupting the operation of Ukrainian attack and interceptor drones, The Wall Street Journal reported on October 20, citing US officials and people familiar with the decision.
According to the newspaper, Musk authorized limits on the speeds at which Ukrainian equipment could remain connected to Starshield, a military-grade version of SpaceX's satellite communications network.
The restrictions, introduced on October 14, rendered some Ukrainian offensive and interceptor drones virtually unusable, the WSJ reported.
Both Musk and US President Donald Trump had expressed anger over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Trump has blamed for rising energy prices.
However, US officials gave conflicting accounts of whether Trump knew about the restrictions before they were imposed.
Some said Musk acted independently and that Trump had not ordered the move. Others said Musk had discussed the matter with Trump and other US officials before implementing the restrictions.
After Ukraine discovered the limitations, SpaceX representatives contacted the White House to coordinate their understanding of the situation and its response, according to the report.
Trump previously denied that either he or Musk had ordered the restrictions, while the White House attributed the disruption to a technical malfunction.
Musk also said Starshield was owned and controlled by the US government.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry confirmed on October 14 that Starshield terminals had been restricted without advance warning. On October 15, the ministry reported that connectivity for terminals operating on moving platforms had begun to recover and said it was working with partners to establish the circumstances behind the disruption.
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