War Secretary says Starshield speed limits stem from service agreement, not U.S. orders

War Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted that any reduction in the data rate of Starshield, the defense-grade satellite system used by Ukraine, is driven by the provider’s terms of service rather than a U.S. government order. He emphasized that the Department of War has not issued any directive to throttle the network and wishes Ukraine success in its conflict. The statement arrives as reports conflict over whether Elon Musk or President Donald Trump authorized the slowdown that has limited Ukrainian drone capabilities and air-defense coordination.

Zelensky has publicly blamed a political decision for the reduced bandwidth and has also charged Hegseth with holding back additional Patriot interceptor missiles, a claim the secretary denied. The dispute unfolds against broader tensions between Washington and Kyiv over Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy targets and the broader debate over U.S. military aid.