Donald Trump Claims Elon Musk Restored Ukraine Starshield Service

President Donald Trump announced on October 23 that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk restored Ukraine's military-grade Starshield satellite service. The restoration follows a period of restrictions that reportedly imposed speed caps of approximately 100 mph, rendering some Ukrainian interceptors and offensive drones powerless. Trump stated he called Musk on Wednesday to express frustration over these limits, later remarking, "I guess the bottom line, he put it back."

While Trump claims the service is operating at full speed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials stated the service has not been fully restored, though performance has improved. A European official also disputed Trump's claim of full functionality. The dispute over the October 14 throttling persists, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attributing the decisions to SpaceX, while Musk asserted that the U.S. military and the president control Starshield.

The technical dispute coincided with an escalation in Russian aggression. Russia launched ballistic missile strikes across 12 Ukrainian regions, killing at least four people. These attacks included a strike on a market in Lozova that killed two women and another strike in the Kharkiv region.