Ukraine Says Starlink Is Still Throttled Despite Trump’s Claim

Serhii Beskrestnov, a military expert who advises President Zelensky, was precise about why isolated improvements prove nothing: there have been “cases in which Starlink has operated at speeds slightly above the imposed limits, but this is likely due to SpaceX’s algorithms or specific conditions of use, rather than any lifting of the restrictions”. One soldier reported losing connection at 50mph in a car. Who imposed the cap is still unowned. The claim that Mr Musk ordered it comes from a single newspaper we cannot read directly; he denies it and has pointed at the Pentagon, which controls the military network, while the White House denies deliberately limiting anything. Mr Trump’s own account was airy: “Whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn’t make any difference… The bottom line, he put it back.” A senior Democratic senator has opened an inquiry, warning that the episode “raises serious questions about who controls critical capabilities the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to procure”. Kyiv’s answer is to stop depending on it: Nokia and the Finnish firm ICEYE have signed a letter of intent with its defence ministry.