The Pentagon’s oversight body has rejected a request from US senators from both parties to investigate the slowdown in the performance of Starshield — the military version of the Starlink service operated by the US company SpaceX — in Ukraine. This is stated in a letter from the US Department of Defence’s Inspector General. Several US media outlets have cited the letter; the Associated Press was the first to report on it.
In a letter dated 27 October, the Pentagon’s Inspector General, Platt Moring, stated that the senators’ questions regarding the slowdown in the systems and its consequences should be directed to the US Air Force and Space Force.
The letter was in response to a request for an investigation submitted by a group of nine senators from both parties, led by Republican Tom Tillis and Democrat Jean Shaheen.
Upon receiving the reply, Jean Shaheen expressed concern “that the Inspector General appears to have decided not to investigate the disruptions to satellite communications on which the protection of the civilian population in Ukraine depends”.
“The Trump administration and SpaceX have given conflicting explanations for the causes of these disruptions. They have weakened Ukraine’s defences and needlessly endangered American military personnel in the country. I call on the Inspector General to conduct a full investigation,” Shahin emphasised.
According to CNN, Molly Helpern, a spokesperson for the Pentagon’s Office of the Inspector General, stated that the office “had carefully reviewed Congress’s request and concluded that the issues raised should be addressed directly by the Department of Defence”.
“If new information comes to light, we may reconsider this decision,” she added.
Disruptions to Starshield — the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink, on which Ukraine relies heavily for protection against Russian air strikes — have left the country particularly vulnerable. These disruptions first came to light on 14 October.
Reports of restrictions on Starlink emerged against the backdrop of a statement by US President Donald Trump regarding an agreement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to temporarily exempt Russian diesel fuel from sanctions and supply it to the global market. Furthermore, Trump demanded that Ukraine cease its strikes on Russian oil refineries.
On 24 October, Ukrainian Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara told Radio Free Europe that Starshield had resumed normal operations: “The Ministry of Defence’s monitoring systems are recording that Starlink/Starshield has resumed normal operations. We are recording speeds of over 400 km/h, and the connection is stable.”
The exact reasons for the restrictions and who specifically ordered them to be imposed remain unknown. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated that “Starshield is a separate system controlled by the US government, and decisions on its use are made by the US authorities”. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that Donald Trump or anyone in the US government had demanded changes to the system’s operation.
A congressional delegation that recently visited Kyiv stated that the restrictions had weakened Ukraine’s air defences and endangered the lives of Ukrainian civilians and US military personnel.