SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company is not responsible for any speed restrictions on Starshield defense communications systems, saying that power is vested in the U.S. military and President Donald Trump. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.
Page A212From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 14 October 2026
THE THROTTLE
Musk says Ukraine's battlefield internet throttle is not his, is asked by senator to please unthrottle it
As it ran on the front
You are being invited to find the error. None was made. Ukraine's military terminals sat under a speed ceiling this week while Russian missiles put six hundred thousand people in Kyiv into the dark, and a ceiling is not a cut — a ceiling is lowered and raised by whoever keeps the key. Ukraine's army does not own those terminals. SpaceX manages them, the Pentagon funds them, and what Ukraine holds is the use of property owned by others, at their pleasure — a usufruct, which ends when the owner prefers it ended.
So who keeps the key? Musk says the government does: "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government," with any limits on speed or usage decided by the US military and, ultimately, the President. Tillis asks Musk to explain the disruptions and hopes they were an error. Zelensky calls it "a pity that we are losing a strong partner." The Hill reports it is not clear what caused the loss of access.…
…(cont) In September 2023 Starlink disabled a communications network near Crimea as Ukrainian drones approached Russian warships. On September 30 Hegseth seated Musk on the taskforce planning the future of warfare.
Ukraine's soldiers run their missions under that limit this week.
“They tell you SpaceX runs the satellites and the Pentagon pays the bill, so when Ukraine's terminals get slowed down overnight, the man who owns the dishes points at the military and nobody in the government has said on the record what caused it. That is the whole product: a war fought on a subscription somebody else can dial down while missiles knock the lights out for 600,000 people in Kyiv. A sitting senator has to beg him on social media for an explanation, which tells you exactly who the junior partner is here.”
“Look, Elon said it himself — Starshield is owned and controlled by the US government, so this is a Pentagon question, not a SpaceX question. Did I call it a Pentagon question? That does not sound like me; what I am saying is nobody has established there was a decision at all, and Tillis himself hopes it was an error. And Ukraine says access has improved, so really the system is working.”
Earlier in this story
- The contractor planning the Pentagon's future of warfare imposes a 100 mph speed limit on Ukraine's air defense By Sterling · the morning edition, 14 October 2026
- Pentagon breach headline reads "over 3 million," the story beneath it still counts 2.76 million. By Mitch · the evening edition, 12 October 2026
- Record $276 million donation and $400 million Republican edge clear every campaign finance rule on the books By Sterling · the afternoon edition, 12 October 2026
- Coalition invokes decades-old ownership limit to stop consolidation; FCC repeals the limit, 2-1 By The Wrecking Crew · the afternoon edition, 10 October 2026
- FCC repeals media ownership limits 2-1 while ABC quietly thins the report on Pentagon contracts for Trump's sons. By The Wrecking Crew · the morning edition, 10 October 2026
- Taxpayers to receive 40 percent stake in the $6.6bn shipyard they are funding; Republican donor's firm owns it By Sterling · the midnight edition, 7 October 2026
The receipts
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said decisions to restrict the speed or usage of Starlink's Starshield are made by the U.S. military and, ultimately, the president, as confusion swirls over Ukraine's loss of military access to the systems. It is not clear at this point what caused Ukraine's military to lose access to Starshield,...
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is pressing Elon Musk to explain Ukraine’s loss of military access to Starlink and expressing hope that Ukraine’s restricted access to the space-based communications network was because of an error and not a deliberate decision. Tillis called on Musk in a social media post to “please tell me these overnight…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is waving a red flag over the partnership between his country and the United States, saying he feels his administration is “losing” a strong ally in the U.S. under President Donald Trump.
Tech titan Elon Musk indicated the Trump administration, not SpaceX, caused the throttling of a military version of Starlink in Ukraine that set off panic in the war-torn country.
Ukraine says Starlink access has improved but it is still facing speed limits which are disrupting its battlefield "missions".
· Ukraine accuses Elon Musk of allowing Russian forces to attack Ukrainian cities after it was revealed that Starlink satellite communications interfered with a drone operation by disabling a communicat from the morgue, 8 Sep 2023
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.