Trump reportedly asked Musk to ease restrictions on Ukraine's military-grade Starlink system

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials, that President Donald Trump called Elon Musk on Thursday, Oct. 22, and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starlink, according to Reuters. CNBC described the affected system as Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink service used by Ukraine.

Reuters reported that Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations, and that restrictions on the satellite service hampered the country’s attack and air defense drone missions against Russia.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials told the Journal that Starshield was “working more normally” shortly after the call, CNBC reported. Some Ukrainian officials told the Journal the system was running at higher speeds than under the cap but had not returned to full functionality, according to Reuters.

On Wednesday, Trump denied involvement in the decision to slow service. “I don’t know who did it, but I was not involved,” he said, according to CNBC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that day that decisions about Ukraine’s access to Starlink were up to SpaceX and Musk, not the White House, Reuters reported.