President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was not involved in slowing SpaceX's Starlink in Ukraine and did not know whether Elon Musk ordered it. The Wall Street Journal had reported, citing unnamed officials, that Musk ordered the slowdown and discussed it with Trump. The disruption of Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, rendered some Ukrainian drones ineffective and weakened defenses against Russian attacks. Zelenskyy said Ukraine has received no explanation from the US for speed restrictions in several parts of the front. Musk said on X that Starshield is owned and controlled by the US government and that its limits are decided by the US military and ultimately the president, while Sen. John Cornyn said he doubts Musk would throttle Starlink without at least the White House's acquiescence.
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Ukraine has accused SpaceX of restricting Starshield, its military-grade service, without advance notice, disrupting military operations as Russia intensified attacks on Kyiv. Elon Musk said Starshield systems are owned and controlled by Washington, with the U.S. military and ultimately the president determining any limits on their use. Starshield is SpaceX's network for government and national security users, offering Earth observation, secure communications and high-assurance encryption for classified information, and it relies on Starlink's satellite network to operate. SpaceX has been awarded over $6 billion in multi-year U.S. government contracts for Starshield, while Starlink serves consumers and businesses in more than 160 markets.
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