Trump called Musk directly to lift Starshield speed cap amid Ukraine drone disruptions

US President Donald Trump personally called SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to ask him to lift speed restrictions on Starshield, the satellite communications service used by Ukrainian forces, according to US officials. Service speeds showed signs of improvement after the call, but the system had not fully recovered.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (local time), citing US officials, that Trump called Musk on Wednesday and expressed frustration that Starshield operating in Ukraine had been capped at 100 miles per hour (about 160 kilometers per hour).

Trump had also told aides and close associates this week on multiple occasions that he wanted to reverse the Starshield speed restrictions, according to the report.

Starshield is a military-grade communications network built on SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service. Ukrainian forces have used it for frontline communications and drone operations. The speed cap recently disrupted the operation of some high-speed attack drones and interceptors, and was reported to have affected Ukraine's ability to carry out operations against Russian attacks.

The situation improved somewhat after Trump's call with Musk. US and Ukrainian officials said Thursday that Starshield was functioning more normally than before. Some Ukrainian officials, however, said that while speeds had increased, the system had not been fully restored.

Questions persist over who ordered the speed restrictions in the first place. The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Musk personally directed the cap. But SpaceX and the White House have offered conflicting accounts of whether the decision was Musk's alone or came at the direction of the Trump administration.

Trump has denied requesting the speed restrictions from Musk or knowing who ordered them. The White House, when asked to comment on the latest report, directed inquiries to Trump's earlier denials.

Divisions within the administration over Musk's decision were also on display. Vice President JD Vance defended Musk's position Thursday, saying it was "entirely understandable" that he would not want to intervene in a war without clear direction from the US government.

Vance added that the issue was "not fundamentally about Elon" but about "what US policy toward Ukraine is going to be."

The Wall Street Journal noted that Vance's remarks struck a different tone from earlier statements by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both of whom had said Musk had the right to enforce his company's own terms of service without government involvement.

In Congress, lawmakers have raised concerns that decisions by a private company can directly affect Ukrainian military operations. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Thursday he would investigate how Starshield service in Ukraine was degraded without prior notice. The probe is also expected to examine how heavily the US Department of Defense relies on SpaceX's communications services.