2026-10-21
James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, released a video Tuesday accusing Elon Musk of trying to buy the state's Senate seat, alleging Musk is using more than $150 million to help Republican Ken Paxton. The Wall Street Journal's Politics newsletter referenced a Journal report Tuesday that Musk ordered a slowdown of Starlink service used in Ukraine last week and later discussed the matter with President Donald Trump; the slowdown made it much harder for Ukraine to defend itself, the newsletter said. Before the Journal's article, the White House said it did not know how the slowdown happened, and Trump said he would like to know who was behind the decision.
2026-10-15
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X on Wednesday that limits on the Starshield satellite service supplied to Ukraine's military are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately by President Donald Trump — not by SpaceX. Musk's posts came after advisers to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that connectivity aboard Starlink-equipped drones was throttled above 100 mph on Tuesday evening, prompting officials to ask Musk to remove the restrictions. The advisers blamed the disruption on the "political situation."
2026-10-15
Elon Musk appeared to suggest the Trump administration was behind restrictions on the speed of SpaceX's Starlink satellite technology used by Ukraine's military, according to the Guardian's Europe Live blog on October 15, 2026. In a further post overnight, Musk also appeared to suggest that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should leave his post, saying it was "time to go." Zelenskyy told Piers Morgan in a TV interview that he felt "betrayed" by Trump's decisions and worried about "losing a strong partner" playing a critical role across Ukraine's defence.
2026-10-15
Ukrainian officials suspect that President Trump ordered restrictions on military-grade Starlink satellite terminals, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The suspicions have not been confirmed.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Denys Sienik, Ukraine's top diplomat in Washington, D.C., sent a frantic message to U.S. lawmakers warning that the limits would give Russia 'an upper hand' in the war and make it tougher for Kyiv to intercept strikes against Ukrainian civilians.
The Starlink issue follows a souring of U.S.-Ukraine relations as Trump has sought to end the war, which he blames for high U.S. energy prices. In recent days, Trump has offered to buy Russian diesel fuel, demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky step down, and declared an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that Moscow almost immediately violated.
2026-10-14
Elon Musk has written on X that any limits on the speed at which Ukrainian weapons can stay connected to SpaceX's Starlink internet network are decided by the US military and ultimately the US president, not by his company. The posts came after Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, pleaded for the disruption to be reversed.