US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that decisions regarding Ukraine's access to Starlink were up to its parent company SpaceX and Elon Musk, not the White House — comments that suggested Musk may himself have restricted Kyiv's access to the service, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via The Business Standard

"I'm not aware that we knew about this decision beforehand. But that's irrelevant," Rubio told reporters during a trip to India. "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." Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.

Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had ordered the slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink that Ukraine relies on to defend itself against missile attacks from Russia. The Journal cited one person saying Musk, President Donald Trump and White House officials discussed the matter beforehand, and two people saying Musk and the president discussed it in the days after the slowdown. Asked on Wednesday whether Musk ordered the slowdown, Trump said: "I don't know who did it, but I was not involved."

What is solid

  • Rubio said on Wednesday that Ukraine's Starlink access is governed by SpaceX's private commercial contract, not by the White House.
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered a slowdown of the Starshield service Ukraine uses against Russian missile attacks.
  • Ukraine says the speed caps disrupted some of its drone missions.

What is only claimed

  • Who ordered the slowdown: Reuters has cited two US officials and a Western official saying the decision ultimately came from the White House, a version Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also asserted — the Trump administration denies it, and Rubio says the contract governs the service.

Al Jazeera reported that Rubio's comments may increase scrutiny of how a private company can shape a system that allows Kyiv to intercept incoming projectiles and target Russian launchers, and noted the remarks represent an apparent shift for the administration: departing for his trip on Saturday, Rubio had said no one ordered the slowdown, an assertion that drew criticism from lawmakers in both parties.

Source: Al Jazeera

The dispute began with the reported Starshield slowdown itself, which blindsided Ukrainian units relying on the service. Read the Starshield slowdown report