On October 16, 2026, soldiers from the Separate Mission Rifle Battalion of the National Police of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhya region installed a Starlink satellite communication terminal at a combat base in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Dmytro Smolyenko | Ukrinform | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Elon Musk’s recent conflict with Ukraine highlights the important role: his company starlink Satellite internet services have contributed to Kiev’s defense against Russia, which invaded without explanation in 2022.
It also reveals the downside of relying on a single provider for satellite Internet communications, although other options still cannot compete with SpaceX’s Starlink or military-grade Starshield products.
On October 14, Ukrainian authorities accused SpaceX of undermining the country’s defense capabilities.
SpaceX and the United States suddenly and without warning imposed speed limits on Starshield, they said. SpaceX describes Starshield as a “secure satellite network for government agencies” that is “powered by Starlink technology.”
The changes cut off wireless internet connections for drones and other aircraft traveling at speeds exceeding 160 miles per hour that the Ukrainian military was using in operations against Russia. A senior Ukrainian commander told the New York Times that the Starlink restrictions had cost his troops more than $1 million in losses and delayed the mission by three days.
Mr. Musk and President Donald Trump have both criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and each sidestepped responsibility for communications failures in the war-torn country.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk personally ordered the service changes and consulted with Trump before implementing them. President Trump insisted Wednesday that he was “not involved.”
Robert Wiseman, co-director of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said the situation was “extremely dangerous” and raised antitrust and national security concerns as it would give Musk control of “key communications channels.”
“People are worried about the political and economic effects of the oligarchy, but that’s about it,” Wiseman said in an interview. “Not only can Mr. Musk drown out other speakers, he can also shut down the country’s national security communications. No one should have that ability or authority.”
The unrest has prompted a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers to call for an investigation into Musk’s actions, including calls for him to testify under oath.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told CNBC on Wednesday that he doesn’t think Musk wouldn’t have acted “at least without the connivance of the White House,” and called the attempt to rein in Starlink services in Ukraine “frankly disgraceful.”
“There’s a reason Europe was relatively peaceful after World War II,” Cornyn said in an interview on “Squawk on the Streets.” “That’s because of the alliance between the United States and our European allies. And I think anything we do to undermine that or diminish that is a big mistake.”
“No billionaire, especially one with huge contracts from our government, should have the power to unilaterally decide to cut off communications and weapons during a war of vital importance to the United States and Ukraine,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called for an investigation into the matter and wrote in a social media post Wednesday.
During SpaceX’s earnings call this week, executives did not address the issue, nor were analysts asked about it.
Starlink Advantage
Governments and companies looking for alternatives to Musk, SpaceX and their satellite internet services have few options.
AmazonLEO, which also provides internet connectivity via a constellation of low-orbit satellites, has been in development for seven years, but with just 390 satellites in orbit, it is not yet fully online.
By comparison, SpaceX boasts a Starlink constellation of more than 11,000 satellites in orbit, according to data tracked by astronomer Jonathan C. McDowell. SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday’s earnings call that Starlink connections are in 174 countries.
In January, Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin announced a service called TeraWave for corporate and government customers. It aims to deploy the first satellite in the fourth quarter of 2027.
France’s Eutelsat, another Starlink competitor, has more than 600 satellites in orbit. Shares soared 23% on October 14 after reports surfaced that Musk had restricted Starlink in Ukraine.
Several countries are considering sovereign satellite communications systems. The EU is building IRIS², which will span hundreds of satellites, with the first launch expected in 2029.
Independent satellite consultant Christian Freiherr von der Ropp said most of these planned systems are unlikely to “come close” to Starlink in terms of capacity, coverage, resiliency and cost. Eutelsat’s high cost, size, weight and power consumption make it particularly unsuitable for use on the battlefield, he added.
While SpaceX’s connectivity business has raced ahead of its competitors, the company also has the advantage of overseeing a highly successful rocket launch business that has put many of its competitors’ satellites into orbit.
SpaceX is currently phasing out commercial flights for its flagship Falcon 9 rocket while testing and developing its massive Starship rocket.
Therefore, many new satellites “may face significant delays and significantly higher launch costs,” von der Ropp said.
Ukrainians use the Starlink satellite internet communications system on a rooftop in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Andrew Kravchenko | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This week, Ukrainian and European lawmakers moved to explore alternatives to Starlink, making the issue a national security issue.
Their concern is that access to critical communications services could be disrupted “as a result of Mr. Musk’s political objectives,” von der Ropp said.
“The degree of soft power that SpaceX has amassed over businesses, governments and the military is significant, and it’s now very visible,” von der Ropp said. “Inevitably, this creates mistrust and accelerates demand for substitutes.”
President Zelenskiy wrote in a post on X on Wednesday that he had met with Norwegian officials and the Norwegian defense company Kongsberg to “start work on air defense systems and new satellite communications capabilities for our warfighters.”
Mr. Musk won praise for providing Starlink terminals and satellite internet service early in the war, but relations between the world’s wealthy and Ukrainian officials have deteriorated over the years.
According to a chapter in Musk’s 2023 biography written by Walter Isaacson, Musk had previously ordered SpaceX engineers to shut down the Starlink satellite network over Crimea to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russian warships. Musk disputed the report. The revelations drew condemnation from Ukrainian officials, including close aides to President Zelensky, who said it led to the killing of Ukrainian civilians.
“This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big egos,” Mykhailo Podlyak, a top adviser to Mr. Zelenskiy, said in a post on X, then known as Twitter.
Musk has also repeatedly called for Ukraine to enter into a “truce” with Russia and transfer ownership of the strategically important territory of Crimea to President Putin.
Musk’s treatment of Ukraine contributed to Canada’s decision to cut ties with Starlink. Officials in India and Taiwan have also expressed wariness about Starlink, citing national security concerns and wanting to hire media services that are not under SpaceX’s control.
Musk slammed India’s “oligarchy” for slowing the rollout of Starlink in the country.
He is also targeting some of Starlink’s potential enterprise customers.
Starlink has become the leading provider of airline in-flight satellite Wi-Fi services, with contracts with dozens of airlines, including: united airlines, alaska airlines, american airlines and southwest airlines.
but delta airlines is one of the few carriers to choose Amazon’s Leo service.
Earlier this month, after an unverified comment was posted on X in which Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told employees, “I don’t want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me,” Musk posted on X that he would “lose his job” if he didn’t choose Starlink.
Bastian denied the comments, telling CNBC on October 9 that he is a “huge fan” of Starlink and also drives a Tesla.
“The nonsense about it being personal is simply not true,” he said.
–CNBC’s Elsa Ohlen and Leslie Josephs contributed reporting to this story.
WATCH: Musk reportedly ordered Starlink to Ukraine to slow down
