Ukraine's Starlink Crisis Exposed How US Foreign Policy Relies on Elon Musk's SpaceX, Officials Say

Ukraine's Starlink crisis has highlighted Washington's reliance on Elon Musk's SpaceX, with six former senior US officials telling Reuters that both the Biden and Trump administrations asked the company to activate or disable its satellite service in different countries.

The requests reportedly included expanding access in Ukraine and Iran while restricting terminals suspected of reaching Iran-linked groups in Yemen and Lebanon. The officials spoke anonymously, and Reuters said the earlier requests had not previously been reported.

The revelations come amid a dispute over restrictions on Ukraine's access to Starlink and Starshield, SpaceX's government-focused satellite system. Ukrainian officials said the limits disrupted drone operations and frontline communications, while responsibility for ordering them remains contested.

Restrictions Disrupted Ukrainian Operations

Ukrainian officials reported on 14 October that restrictions had affected Starlink and Starshield use, with drones losing connectivity at speed. Reports described a limit of about 160kph, although some connections were said to fail at lower speeds.

Starlink provides satellite internet for frontline communications. Starshield serves government and national-security users, and its receivers have been used on Ukrainian drones for guidance and links to remote pilots.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Starshield access had been deliberately restricted. Halyna Yusypiuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's embassy in Washington, said restoring normal service was a priority because lives depended on it.

On 24 October, Ukraine's defence ministry said its monitoring systems recorded stable connections at speeds exceeding 400kph, calling this a return to normal speed metrics. The ministry did not confirm that every aspect of service had been fully restored.

US Requests Spanned Two Administrations

During Joe Biden's presidency, officials asked SpaceX to disable Starlink terminals believed to have reached Houthi- and Hezbollah-linked individuals through intermediaries, former officials told Reuters. The concerns arose in Lebanon in 2023 and Yemen in 2024, amid conflict involving the Iran-aligned groups.

Officials asked SpaceX to identify and deactivate the terminals. At least some were switched off, two former officials said. The Biden administration also pushed the company to expand Starlink access for Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Biden officials separately sought to make Starlink available in Iran during protests that began in September 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being detained by Iran's morality police. A former official said terminals were moved into Iran with help from the administration but declined to say how many.

The Trump administration later discussed activating terminals in Iran following US-Israeli strikes in June 2025 and February 2026, according to a former senior Trump official and another person familiar with the matter. The aim was to support internet access for anti-government protesters. Neither the administration nor SpaceX has publicly confirmed that the terminals were activated. The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2026 that the US government had sent thousands of terminals into Iran.

Who Controls Starshield?

Musk has said Starshield is owned and controlled by the US government, with limits on speed or use decided by the US military and ultimately the president. Reuters has reported, citing officials, that the order to restrict Starshield in Ukraine came from inside the White House. The Trump administration has acknowledged the slowdown but has not said whether it issued the order.

The White House referred Reuters to Trump's remarks that he had not spoken with Musk and would resolve any problem. However, a report by The Wall Street Journal, carried by Reuters on 22 October, said Trump had called Musk to ask him to lift the restrictions. Trump later declined to confirm whether the conversation took place.

SpaceX did not respond to Reuters' request for comment. Democratic Representative Jason Crow called for clarity over private companies' influence on US national security. Armand Musey, president of satellite consultancy Summit Ridge Group, said Musk's control of a company with major government contracts gave him significant influence over foreign-policy decisions, though it was unclear what drove particular decisions.

The dispute follows earlier rows over Ukraine's access to Starlink. Reuters reported that in 2022 Musk ordered SpaceX personnel to cut Starlink coverage in areas Ukrainian forces were seeking to retake. Musk has also said he refused a Ukrainian request to activate Starlink in Sevastopol, Crimea, to support an attack on Russia's Black Sea fleet, citing concerns about becoming involved in a major act of war.

The restrictions have renewed European concerns about reliance on a private provider, with no immediate replacement for SpaceX. For Ukraine and its allies, the crisis has sharpened a difficult question: how can governments depend on a private company for critical military communications when authority to restrict access remains disputed?