U.S. President Donald Trump declined on Friday to say who ordered the restrictions on Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service, telling a CNN reporter he had “no idea” and asking, “Why would I tell CNN?”
The exchange took place on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 23 as Trump spoke to reporters before leaving for Florida, according to White House video of the gaggle. CNN said the question came from its White House reporter, Alayna Treene.
“Mr. President, you must know now who ordered the Starlink access in Ukraine to be restricted. Who was it?” the reporter asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t tell you if I did know. I have no idea,” Trump replied. “Why would I tell you?” After the reporter said she was with CNN, he said: “Why would I tell CNN? Although they did do some nice polls on me, I must say.”
Ukrainian officials have said speed caps on Starlink and Starshield, the military-grade version of the service, cut connections to drones moving at high speed, hampering interceptors used against Russia’s jet-powered attack drones. Reuters has reported the caps took effect on Oct. 13.
Who imposed them remains disputed. SpaceX owner Elon Musk wrote in an Oct. 14 post on X that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters on Oct. 20 that “we haven’t made any directives or anything like that,” according to a Department of War transcript, adding that Starlink “has the option to make those decisions” under its terms of service.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had called Musk to ask him to restore Ukraine’s full access, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed the call to CNN. Trump has not confirmed it. “Whether I called or whether somebody else called, it doesn’t make any difference. I guess the bottom line, he put it back,” he said on Oct. 22, according to White House footage of that day’s departure remarks.
Kyiv said on Friday that the problem had not been fixed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Hudson Institute in a remote address that “the speed limits on Starlink and Starshield are still there,” according to the Ukrainian presidency’s transcript. Denys Sienik, the chargé d’affaires at Ukraine’s embassy in Washington, told CNN on Friday evening that “the situation remains the same.”
In the same gaggle, Trump said he had heard the issue was resolved and would intervene if it was not. “If there is a problem, I’ll get it straightened out,” he said.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said speeds had recovered. “The Ministry of Defense’s monitoring systems are recording a recovery in Starlink/Starshield speeds,” Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said, the Associated Press reported, adding that the ministry was recording speeds above 400 km/h and “the connection is stable.” He did not say who had lifted the caps.
Trump’s refusal to name anyone, and his suggestion that he would withhold the answer from CNN even if he knew it, are his own statements; he also said he had “no idea.” On the record, no official finding or White House statement has identified who ordered the limits, with Musk pointing to the U.S. government and Hegseth saying the Pentagon issued no directive. CNN reported the exchange but had not issued a separate response to Trump’s remark, and neither the White House nor SpaceX had publicly said who ordered the restrictions as of Saturday.