Three Democrats from the US House of Representatives have demanded an investigation into Elon Musk's role in the outages and delays in Ukraine's access to the Starlink satellite internet service.
The request was made by Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta and Ro Hanna, who demand to find out who ordered the restrictions on Starlink and its military version Starshield. The congressmen said the communications problems affected Ukrainian drone operations and air defense systems.
“We need a full investigation and then consequences”, Liccardo told CNN.Ukrainian authorities said the restrictions began on October 13 and affected Starshield, used for battlefield communications. In a letter to the White House, the three lawmakers requested a government investigation to determine whether the decision was made by Musk, President Donald Trump or administration officials.
Conflicting accounts of the outages
According to the “Associated Press“ Musk has admitted that SpaceX has limited the speed of Starlink in Ukraine. He has defended the company's actions and said the service was being used in a way that violated its terms.
However, the US administration has given mixed signals about who made the decision. Vice President J.D. Vance admitted coordination with the White House, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have denied administration involvement. President Trump has also said he did not know who ordered the restrictions.
These differences are among the reasons Democrats are pushing for an audit of communications between SpaceX, the White House and the Pentagon. Lawmakers also want to clarify whether any restrictions on the service are in line with contracts between the US government and Musk's companies.
Significance for Ukrainian defense
Ukraine relies on Starlink and Starshield for military communications, drone control and data exchange in the event of Russian attacks. According to US media, the restrictions affected drones traveling at speeds above 100 miles per hour, as well as systems related to air defense.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country has not yet restored the previous speed of Starlink and Starshield. It has not yet been announced when the requested investigation will be completed, nor whether the White House will commission a formal inspection.
Sources: cnn.com, apnews.com, sfstandard.com