Reports: Musk approached Trump about throttling Ukraine’s Starlink connection, sources say – National & International News
Reports: Musk approached Trump about throttling Ukraine’s Starlink connection, sources say
Earlier this week, the Ukrainian military’s connection to Starlink suddenly slowed to a crawl, compromising efforts to defend against incoming Russian drone attacks. Ukrainian officials were quick to point the finger at the US for deliberately slowing the connection in order to help Russia.
The slowdown caused Starlink receptors on Ukraine’s drones to lose connectivity when traveling over 100 mph, making it impossible to intercept Russian drones coming in at double the speed. As of Friday, connectivity was slowly being restored, but still at a much lower capacity than previously.
On Friday, Reuters reported that the order to throttle Ukraine’s Starlink connection came directly from the White House, according to senior officials. The British Telegraph, citing four sources, is also reporting that this happened after Space-X CEO Elon Musk reached out to Trump about the possibility of imposing speed limits on the system. Trump agreed, the sources say.
A day after deadly strikes in Kiev, Musk tried to distance himself and Space-X from the decision, writing on Twitter that any Starlink speed limits “are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” referring to President Trump.
The Starlink disruption occurred as President Trump is very publicly feuding with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky about Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil facilities. Trump has repeatedly demanded that strikes on Russian oil assets must cease as diesel prices soar in the US ahead of the midterms. Trump has sought to place the blame on Zelensky for driving up US oil prices. However, experts say that Trump’s war on Iran is by far the greatest driver of rising global oil prices.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs moved to different prison after reports of luxury lifestyle behind bars.
