Senate inquiry into the slowdown

A week of denials from the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and SpaceX has now produced the first formal attempt to establish who was behind the Ukraine Starshield restrictions. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal announced a new inquiry into how the technologies were slowed for Ukraine's defence systems.

The move follows warnings from Kyiv that the restrictions alarmed Ukrainian officials, with commanders reporting lost drones and disrupted missions. Starshield, SpaceX's military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service, is the backbone of Ukraine's drone operations.

So far, no answer has been settled on. Ukraine has not received a clear official explanation of who ordered the restrictions or why, according to a senior European official who spoke anonymously.

Officials deflect responsibility

Asked over successive days, the administration's most senior figures each pointed somewhere else. Trump has repeatedly maintained that he did not make the call on the satellite communications system.

• •Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied any administration involvement.
• •Rubio, speaking Wednesday in India, said for the third time in four days that any throttling of network access to Ukraine was not directed or ordered by Trump or anyone else.
• •Hegseth denied on Tuesday any American role, saying "We haven't pulled anything back," while noting "there are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to".
• •Asked about those terms of service, Hegseth offered no elaboration but said "Starlink has the option to make those decisions".
• •Vice President JD Vance has hinted at White House coordination with Musk.

Rubio's formulation placed the decision firmly with the company: "The president has nothing to do with the decisions that are made by Starlink and Starshield and by Mr. Musk. That's a private company".

Elon Musk, in turn, pointed back at the government. Because Ukraine was using the military-grade version of his technology, he indicated, questions about the service should be directed to the Pentagon.

On October 14 he wrote on X that "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government" and that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately the president. He added that Starlink is a commercial service whose usage is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action.

Trump's own words shift

Trump's account has moved over the course of the week. On Friday he made the remark above, adding that from what he understood the service was the same as always.

By Thursday, asked whether he had personally asked Musk to lift the restrictions - after The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had agreed to do so - Trump declined to say, responding: "You know, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference... I guess the bottom line, he put it back".

The remarks left open the question Blumenthal's inquiry is expected to press: whether the decision on the Ukraine Starshield restrictions was taken by the president, the Pentagon or SpaceX itself.

Access restored, questions remain

Trump said Thursday that Ukraine's access to the Starshield satellite system had been restored after Kyiv reported the restrictions.

But a senior European official said the same day that nothing had changed in the operation of Starshield, with its speed cap still set at about 100mph (160kph).

President Volodymyr Zelensky has kept up the pressure from Kyiv. He told US lawmakers on Monday, in a video posted to social media, that "we still face speed restrictions on Starlink and Starshield services in different parts of the front" with no explanation.

On "Fox & Friends" Wednesday he said connectivity remained limited and that Rubio had told him he would work to "unblock" the slowdown. He has also said there were no similar restrictions in European Union countries, that they applied only to Ukraine, and called it "a planned operation".

Ukraine has yet to receive a clear official explanation of who ordered the restrictions or why. Blumenthal's inquiry is now the next step toward one.