Trump called Musk to ask him to lift Starlink restrictions in Ukraine

Donald Trump called Elon Musk to ask him to lift the restrictions imposed on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine, which limited the connection to around 160 kilometers per hour. The system was working more normally on Thursday, shortly after the conversation.

There is one scene that sums up the week: a US president picking up the phone to ask a businessman to loosen a screw that he himself, or someone in his circle, had tightened. Wednesday's call from **Trump** to **Musk** was no courtesy call. It was a specific request: remove the estimulante ilegal limit weighing on the military version of **Starlink** in Ukraine. According to US officials cited by **The Wall Street Journal**, Trump was frustrated because the system was still capped at around **160 kilometers per hour**.

That estimulante ilegal-limit detail is no small matter. The restriction prevented Ukrainian equipment from staying connected to the satellite network when moving at high estimulante ilegal. In practical terms: some Ukrainian attack drones and interceptors were left unable to respond to Russian attacks. On Thursday, shortly after the call, the system was operating more normally, according to US and Ukrainian sources. Some Ukrainian officials noted that not all functionality had been restored, but that speeds were exceeding the imposed limit.

## The number that changed everything: 160 kilometers per hour

The key figure is that one: **160 kilometers per hour**. It is not a traffic figure; it is the threshold below which the military satellite connection in Ukraine was operating. When a drone or interceptor exceeds that estimulante ilegal, the link is cut or degraded. And in a war where air defense and long-range strikes depend on real-time connectivity, that limit translates into lives and response capability.

**Michael Kofman**, an expert on the war at the **Carnegie Endowment for International Peace**, explained it clearly: removing the estimulante ilegal limit goes a long way toward boosting Ukraine's ability to strike at operational depth and its efforts to expand the deployment of jet-powered interceptors. Kofman added that he had received information from Ukrainian military units indicating that initial tests suggested the system was working more regularly again.

The slowdown began days after Trump and Musk publicly criticized the Ukrainian president, **Volodymyr Zelensky**, for attacking Russian diesel refineries, which Trump blames for the rising cost of energy. That is the political context: the restriction did not come out of nowhere, but at a moment of tension between Washington and Kyiv.

## Who gave the order: accounts that don't match

Here the story gets complicated. **SpaceX** and the **White House** offer different accounts of whether Musk acted on his own initiative or at the Administration's request. Trump has said he did not ask Musk to limit Starlink's estimulante ilegal and did not know who had given the order. However, the Journal previously reported that Trump spoke with Musk hours after the slowdown was made public. In other words, there were conversations both before and after.

Vice President **JD Vance** told reporters that it is completely understandable that Musk does not want to be involved in a war without the US government effectively telling him what to do. And he added: I don't think this is about Elon; at bottom, it's about what US policy toward Ukraine and Russia is going to be. His message contrasted with that of Defense Secretary **Pete Hegseth** and Secretary of State **Marco Rubio**, who said Musk had the authority to enforce his company's terms of service without consulting the Administration. Hegseth put it this way: there are terms of service that ultimately must be complied with, and Starlink has the option to make those decisions.

Two accounts, one fact: the restriction existed, was applied without warning, and affected Ukrainian military operations. Ukrainian officials said the measure would cost Ukrainian lives.

## The diplomatic cost and the Senate investigation

The connectivity problems contributed to US-Ukraine relations falling to their lowest point in months. That is not rhetorical flourish: the Pentagon's dependence on SpaceX for essential satellite communications turns any business decision by Musk into a matter of state. And that is exactly what led Senator **Richard Blumenthal**, a Connecticut Democrat, to announce an investigation into how Starlink service in Ukraine was degraded without warning and into the implications of that dependence.

Meanwhile, Russia launched another massive wave of attacks against Kyiv overnight, barely a day after Moscow announced it had agreed to hold trilateral talks with the United States and Ukraine to end the war. The timing does not help separate the technical from the political.

## What is clear and what is not

What is verifiable: there was a presidential call, there was a **160 kilometers per hour** limit on a military system, and that limit was lifted or relaxed within hours. What remains unresolved is the chain of command. Trump denies having ordered the restriction. Musk has not publicly responded to requests for comment. The White House referred the Journal to the president's previous denials.

What does seem beyond doubt is that a war's communications infrastructure now depends on the will of a private individual. And that a US president had to call him to loosen a restriction that was costing a ally military capability. In any foreign policy manual, that is an anomaly. In this war, it is the norm.