Representative Betty McCollum said that last night, as Russia unleashed a ballistic missile attack that left more than 600,000 Ukrainian civilians without power, President Trump and his crony, Elon Musk, shut off Starlink for Ukraine’s military. She said the president and his allies are intentionally limiting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself while Russia continues to attack civilian infrastructure. She posted the statement on Wednesday and linked a New York Times report.
“Last night, as Russia unleashed a ballistic missile attack that left more than 600,000 Ukrainian civilians without power, President Trump and his crony, Elon Musk, shutoff Starlink for Ukraine’s military,” McCollum wrote Wednesday. “The President and his allies are intentionally limiting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself while Russia continues to attack civilian infrastructure.” The post does not name a specific order. No matching release appeared on her congressional site. The characterizations are hers.
Ukrainian officials described the attack and the satellite restrictions. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a large Russian ballistic missile barrage cut power to 600,000 people in Kyiv. Ukrainian Defense Ministry officials said SpaceX restricted Starshield use for devices traveling faster than 100 miles per hour without warning, disrupting combat operations. Mykhailo Fedorov later wrote that connectivity at speeds up to 160 km/h was being restored. Those statements are on Ukrainian accounts. No Defense Department release posted this week confirms a shutoff or a restriction.
Elon Musk stated that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government and that any limits are decided by the U.S. military and ultimately the president. He distinguished Starlink as a commercial service. Musk wrote Wednesday. McCollum’s post names both Trump and Musk in the shutoff. Musk’s post attributes decision authority to the U.S. military and the president. The posts do not cite a joint order.
The diesel license and the energy ceasefire announcement are the preceding U.S. documents. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued General License No. 135 on Oct. 9. Trump’s Oct. 11 Truth Social post announced an energy ceasefire. No White House release defines its terms. McCollum’s post does not cite the license. It addresses the reported satellite restriction concurrent with the Russian attack.
No Defense Department or White House release posted this week responds to McCollum’s statement or confirms a shutoff of Starlink or Starshield for Ukraine’s military. Ukrainian reports of the power outage and the restrictions are on official accounts. McCollum’s post treats the events as intentional limitation by the president and Musk. Those characterizations are hers.
Other members posted on the same reports this week. Those posts are on their accounts. McCollum’s post does not cite them. It is limited to the concurrent attack and the reported shutoff.
“Shutoff Starlink for Ukraine’s military,” “crony, Elon Musk,” and “intentionally limiting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself” are McCollum’s. The Ukrainian statements, Musk’s post, and the absence of a same-day Defense Department confirmation are the records. The gap is between a representative describing a shutoff by the president and Musk concurrent with a Russian attack and the absence of an official confirmation of the restriction or its authorship on a government page.