US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday (October 21) that decisions regarding Ukraine's access to Starlink were up to SpaceX and its owner Elon Musk, not the White House, amid conflicting accounts over who ordered restrictions on the satellite service critical to Kyiv's war effort against Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had ordered a slowdown of a military-grade version of Starlink used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations. The newspaper cited sources who said Musk, US President Donald Trump and White House officials had discussed the matter before the slowdown, while two sources said Musk and Trump also discussed it in the days afterwards.
Reuters, citing two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter, reported that the decision ultimately came from the White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also attributed the move to Washington, while the administration has denied responsibility.
Rubio said he was not aware that the administration had known about the decision beforehand, adding that Starlink's use was governed by a private commercial contract that determined how the service could be used and the speeds permitted.
The comments have renewed concerns over Musk's influence on US foreign policy and Ukraine's reliance on a privately operated satellite network for military communications. Starlink has played a crucial role in Ukraine's command, control, communications, intelligence and surveillance capabilities since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Zelenskyy said that he had discussed Starlink, ballistic missile interceptors and intelligence sharing with Rubio during a telephone conversation earlier in the day. He described the exchange as constructive and said the two sides had agreed to speak again within 48 hours.
The Ukrainian president also welcomed the resumption of an early-warning system that alerts Kyiv to incoming Russian missile attacks, describing it as an important development for public safety.
"Now we also have a constructive dialogue. It was constructive because all of us want peace – Ukraine, Europe, the United States," Zelenskyy said.
The remarks came after Zelenskyy travelled to Oslo for talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and European leaders, including Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, as Kyiv sought to repair strained relations with Washington and advance negotiations to end the war.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine and its European partners were preparing concrete proposals for Russia. He also said a draft document outlining security guarantees for Ukraine would be shared with Russian officials by Witkoff.
"Today we discussed security guarantees, and I'm thankful to the American side for underlining again that they have to be strong," Zelenskyy said.
He added that Ukraine remained willing to halt attacks on Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow stopped striking Ukrainian energy facilities, saying Kyiv had accepted a US proposal for an energy ceasefire but Russia had continued its attacks.
Witkoff was due to travel to Russia on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following his meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders. The discussions form part of Washington's efforts to secure a settlement to the conflict, which is approaching its fifth year.
Meanwhile, Trump urged Zelenskyy to commit to negotiations, warning that failure to reach an agreement would have serious consequences for Ukraine.
"Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelenskyy has to want to settle this war," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "And if he doesn't, I think it's going to be a very bad thing."
Trump said Russia wanted to reach a deal and pointed to its continued territorial advances on the battlefield.
"They just keep grinding forward, and that's what they've done. They've taken a very large piece of land," he said, adding that Russian forces continued to advance week by week and had a seemingly unlimited supply of manpower.
The diplomatic push comes amid wider strains in relations between Washington and Kyiv, including disputes over military assistance, intelligence sharing and US policy towards Moscow. Trump's recent moves to ease restrictions affecting Russian energy exports have also raised concerns in Ukraine and among its European allies over the direction of US support.
(With agency inputs from ANI, Reuters and The Conversation via PTI)