Trump denies ordering Starlink slowdown in Ukraine, says he doesn’t know who did it

President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that he had nothing to do with the slowdown in economic activity. EspaceXStarlink in Ukraine and said he did not know whether Elon Musk was responsible for throttling the speed of the critical satellite service.

Trump’s latest denial came a day after The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter, reported that Musk had ordered the slowdown and discussed it with Trump.

“I was not involved,” Trump told a reporter when asked about the decision as he left the White House for a campaign rally in South Carolina.

Asked if Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, ordered the slowdown, Trump replied: “I don’t know who did it, but I wasn’t involved.”

The recent disruption of Starshield, the military version of Starlink, has rendered some Ukrainian drones effectively useless, weakening defenses against Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that his army still faces “speed restrictions on Starlink and Starshield services in different parts of the front.”

“No explanation on any of these issues has been provided to Ukraine by the American side,” he said.

The Journal reported Tuesday that Musk and Trump discussed the decision to limit Starlink “shortly after” the change became public last week, citing two people familiar with the matter.

One of the people who spoke with the outlet claimed that Musk discussed the issue with several senior administration officials, including Trump himself, before imposing the Starlink speed limit.

Trump and Musk have recently stepped up their criticism of Zelensky. But none of them have yet identified who ordered the Starlink disruption.

Musk said on

Earlier on Wednesday, Zelesnkyy said he and Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik had “discussed in detail the initiation of work on new satellite communications capabilities for our warriors.”

“We will involve partners who have the capacity to provide support,” Zelenskyy said in an X post.

Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Wednesday morning that he doesn’t believe Musk would throttle Starlink without “at least the White House’s OK.”