Democratic US senators order Musk to preserve records on Ukraine Starlink access

WASHINGTON: Democratic US senators have told Elon Musk to preserve all records related to his company SpaceX’s restrictions on Ukraine’s use of its Starlink and Starshield satellite services.

Ukrainian forces say Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, is vital for frontline communications and drone operations in their defense against Russian drone and missile attacks.

But in mid-October, Ukrainian officials complained that the service had been restricted without explanation or warning, limiting their military’s ability to conduct complicated strike missions against Russian forces and slowing interceptor drones used to shoot down Russian attack drones.

“The October and November restrictions now raise the disturbing possibility that these vulnerabilities persist even within systems on which the US government relies,” Senators Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Chris Coons of Delaware said in a letter to Musk.

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They gave Musk until November 30 to provide written confirmation that “all appropriate preservation measures have been implemented.”

The lawmakers sought SpaceX’s records since September 1, including all communications related to Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine as well as communications between Musk, SpaceX executives and the White House and Pentagon.

Shaheen and Coons said the restrictions raised “serious questions” about SpaceX’s control over communications systems critical to national security and criticized what they described as “opaque decision-making.”

Reuters reported in October that an order to limit Starshield service used by Ukrainian forces came from inside the White House.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed that account, saying decisions on Ukraine’s access to the service were up to SpaceX and Musk. Later that month Ukraine said Starlink and Starshield were operating normally.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, however, that Ukrainian military units had again recorded disruptions to Starshield communications.