Atlantic report: SpaceX pushed Ukraine to upgrade after Starlink throttling
New reporting suggests Musk's company tried to upsell Kyiv on a pricier plan after intentionally slowing its wartime Starlink service.
What to know
- Musk admitted to intentionally throttling Starlink over Ukraine during a deadly Russian missile barrage, citing an alleged terms-of-service violation that Ukraine denies.
- The Atlantic reports SpaceX advised U.S. officials that Ukraine should upgrade to a pricier contract to restore access, suggesting a financial motive behind the outage.
- The outage occurred as Russian strikes killed at least nine people in Kyiv and hit power infrastructure, with Ukrainian officials saying advance warning could have prevented it.
- The Pentagon's inspector general has told Congress it is effectively declining to investigate the incident despite Ukraine's deep military dependence on Starlink's roughly 250,000 terminals.
Elon Musk Founder of SpaceX/Starlink
Donald Trump U.S. PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy President of UkrainePentagon Inspector General U.S. defense oversight body
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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Pentagon inspector general declines to investigate Musk's move
Truthout reported that the Pentagon's inspector general told Congress it is effectively refusing to investigate Musk's interruption of Ukraine's Starlink service, while noting Ukraine's deep dependence on Starlink, with roughly 250,000 terminals in use and reported charges of $2,500 per terminal per month.
“Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.”
— Elon Musk, SpaceX/Starlink founder · source -
They need to talk to Poland, who've being paying the subscription for several years now
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- 1 day quiet
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New Republic frames outage as a pay-up pressure tactic
The New Republic argued the Atlantic's findings suggest Starlink's outage may have been engineered to force cash-strapped Ukraine into a more expensive contract, highlighting the outsized power one company and its owner hold over a sovereign nation's war effort.
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first by New Republic, 9d ago
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first by The New Republic, 10d ago
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The Atlantic reports SpaceX urged Ukraine to pay more
The Atlantic reported that when U.S. military officials asked SpaceX about the outages, the company advised Ukraine to switch to an upgraded, pricier contract to restore access, raising the possibility that the throttling was a pressure tactic over payment.
“Earlier this month, when U.S. military officials asked SpaceX about the outages in Ukraine, the company advised switching to an upgraded contract to restore Ukraine's access, U.S. officials told us.”
— The Atlantic -
background
Musk admits he throttled Starlink over Ukraine — In a Saturday X post, Musk confessed to slowing the region's Starlink connection, claiming Ukraine had violated Starlink's terms of service by using it to attack Russia; Ukraine denied the accusation.
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background
Trump refuses to take responsibility for the lapse — President Trump declined to accept responsibility for the Starlink outage after Musk pointed to his administration's decisions as the cause.
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Musk blames US military and Trump for the outage — Elon Musk initially attributed the Starlink lapse to recent decisions by the U.S. military and President Trump rather than to any action by his own company.
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background
Starlink connection drops over Ukraine during missile barrage — Starlink's satellite internet service suddenly dropped over Ukraine as Russia struck Kyiv with missiles, hitting two heat and power plants and a residential building and killing at least nine people.