Trump Denies White House Ordered 160-kph Starshield Limits for Ukraine

3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 16

Trump said Friday neither he nor, he believed, Elon Musk ordered this week’s Starshield restrictions on Ukraine’s military, adding the service was “the same as it’s always been.”
Ukrainian officials said the limits were imposed without warning and cut connectivity for drones or other vehicles traveling above 160 kilometers per hour, causing some missions to fail and hindering civilian defense against heavier Russian attacks.
Musk had earlier shifted responsibility to Washington, saying Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government, while Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski accused him of playing politics with a service Warsaw buys for Ukraine.
The dispute spotlights Ukraine’s dependence on Starlink and Starshield for drone data and battlefield communications as SpaceX shares have fallen about 11% this week ahead of quarterly results Tuesday.