U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told Elon Musk on Saturday to “just answer the subpoena truthfully,” though no congressional subpoena has been issued to Musk or SpaceX, hours after Musk wrote that Ukraine’s military had used Starlink for “offensive drone strikes to kill people” and that “that loophole was closed last week.”
“So it was you ? Just answer the subpoena truthfully and we can figure out the truth,” Gallego wrote in a post on X quoting Musk’s message from earlier in the day.
No committee has announced a subpoena to Musk or SpaceX. Gallego, who sits on the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, does not chair a committee and cannot issue one on his own. Under the committee’s rules of procedure, the chair is authorized to issue full-committee subpoenas, and Republicans hold the Senate majority, according to the Senate’s party division page.
Musk’s post on X on Saturday said that “using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.” He added: “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”
In the same post, Musk drew a line between Starlink and Starshield, the satellite service SpaceX provides to the U.S. government. “Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them,” he wrote, adding that if Starlink were turned off, “the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.”
He also wrote that “SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR.”
Musk ended the post by saying he had “nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict,” adding, “May you burn in hell. End of story.” He was responding to a user’s post that quoted a CNBC report published Friday that said restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine remained in place.
Gallego has raised the prospect of subpoenas for more than a week. On Oct. 17, he told Musk in a post on X to “make sure @Starlink keeps all records and communications regarding your alliance with Russia,” adding, “Subpoenas are coming.”
On Wednesday, quoting Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks on the restrictions, he asked in another X post, “So it’s @elonmusk that made the decision? This is why we have to subpoena the DOD, Starlink and Elon to get to the bottom of this.” On Friday, quoting a Musk post about Ukraine, he asked in a separate post, “So did you throttle Star Shield ?”
Democrats have instead sought information through letters. On Oct. 22, Senator Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, announced an inquiry into Starlink and Starshield, with letters to Musk and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth requesting information and documents by Nov. 5. A day later, House and Senate Democrats led by Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Peter Welch sent a bicameral letter to Musk asking for answers by Oct. 31.
Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that service had been restored. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X that speeds had been restored and thanked partners, including members of Congress and President Donald Trump. Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said Starlink and Starshield speeds above 400 km/h had resumed, according to the state news agency Ukrinform.
Ukrainian officials disputed Musk’s terms-of-service claim after his post. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Zelenskyy on defense technology, wrote that commercial Starlink terminals over Ukraine have had a movement-speed limit of 70 to 90 km/h since winter 2026 and do not work over Russia, and that “we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes and medium-range strikes,” the Kyiv Independent and other Ukrainian outlets reported.
Who ordered the speed limits has been disputed. Musk wrote on Oct. 14 that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS” in a post about Starshield. On Oct. 20, Hegseth told reporters that “there are terms of service” and that “Starlink has the option to make those decisions,” according to a Department of War transcript.
Musk had not replied to Gallego on X as of early Sunday, and SpaceX had not issued a statement on his post. Later on Saturday, Musk wrote in a reply to another user that “Starlink’s terms have remained consistent as a civilian system, not a means of killing,” that “violation of those terms will result in end of service,” and that “Starshield use is a decision of the US government. End of story.”
Gallego’s “So it was you” reads Musk’s post as an admission, but Musk’s post said the Starlink “loophole” was closed and attributed decisions about Starshield to the U.S. government; it did not say he ordered limits on Starshield. Gallego’s reference to “the subpoena” is not borne out by the public record: no subpoena has been issued, and the pending congressional requests are letters seeking voluntary answers. Musk’s statements that Ukraine’s military violated Starlink’s terms and that the front line would “collapse immediately” without Starlink are his own assertions; he offered no supporting documents, and Ukrainian officials dispute that commercial Starlink was used for strikes.