Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Ukraine is seeking answers from the United States after renewed disruptions to Starshield, a satellite communications service developed by SpaceX for government customers. He said the disruptions had lasted several days and were making it harder for Ukrainian forces to intercept Russian drones.
In a statement on his official Telegram channel, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s military had concluded that restrictions on the service were causing the disruptions. Reuters quoted a Ukrainian official as saying it was unclear who had made the decision. U.S. officials and SpaceX had yet to publicly confirm the cause Thursday morning.
What Congress asked for
Nov. 12 was already a deadline in a U.S. inquiry into a similar disruption in October. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, asked the Pentagon and SpaceX to brief the panel by Thursday about the earlier incident. His letters also requested written answers by Nov. 5, including records that could show who decided to restrict the service and what authority the government and the company each had under their contracts.
Starshield is distinct from SpaceX’s commercial Starlink internet service. Blumenthal’s inquiry asks how much the Pentagon relies on the company for military communications and whether the Defense Department has alternatives if a service becomes unavailable. A bipartisan group of senators separately asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to examine the October episode. The watchdog referred the lawmakers to the Air Force, the Associated Press reported.
During the October disruption, Musk said the U.S. government controlled Starshield and decided limits on its use. Trump denied that the United States had imposed a restriction. Ukraine reported that service returned to normal on Oct. 24.
The new account came as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Russian President Vladimir Putin after U.S.-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi. A Ukrainian official told Reuters that negotiators had not discussed the Starshield disruptions at those talks. The envoys were expected to meet Zelenskyy in Dublin later Thursday.
