Trump says Musk has restored Starlink internet access in Ukraine

US President Donald Trump stated that SpaceX owner Elon Musk has restored Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite internet network, BBC News and Reuters reported. Speaking to reporters before leaving the White House, President Trump declined to confirm or deny reports that he personally phoned Mr Musk to ask for the restrictions to be removed, according to The Hill and Reuters. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported earlier that President Trump had placed a call to Mr Musk asking him to lift the speed limits and restrictions. [1][2][8][9][10][12]

The slowdown affected both the civilian Starlink service and its military-grade counterpart Starshield, BBC News and The Hill reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said connectivity to Starshield had not been fully restored and warned that the restrictions were harming the country's defense, according to BBC News and LBC. The network disruptions impacted Ukraine's ability to operate military drones for attacks and self-defense, BBC News said. [1][3][4][11]

Senior US administration officials, including Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, blamed Mr Musk directly for the decision to throttle the satellite services, according to reports in The Hill. Mr Musk previously denied that he was responsible for the slowdown, BBC News reported. SpaceX investor Ross Gerber told CNN he was disgusted by the service reductions and argued the system is not reliable for national security, according to The Hill. [1][3][4][6]

SpaceX first activated the Starlink system in Ukraine in February 2022 to replace infrastructure destroyed during the Russian invasion [13]. As FTMQ Politics reported earlier, Ukrainian forces previously experienced severe disruptions to Starshield service before connectivity was temporarily restored on October 15, while President Trump denied ordering those initial limits [16]. Ukrainian military forces rely heavily on the system for defense, counterattacks, and humanitarian relief efforts [13]. [13][16]