U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told Elon Musk on Saturday to make sure SpaceX’s Starlink keeps records of what the senator called Musk’s “alliance with Russia,” and wrote that “subpoenas are coming.” He posted hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said speed limits on satellite links used by Ukrainian drones were still in place.
“[Elon Musk] make sure [Starlink] keeps all records and communications regarding your alliance with Russia. Subpoenas are coming. I am sure the European market will want to know what happened,” Gallego wrote on X. The post cited no evidence for the “alliance” characterization and did not say who would issue subpoenas or when.
Gallego was quoting a post by Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based analyst and Kyiv Independent correspondent, published about 11-1/2 hours earlier, which said Ukraine’s Starshield terminals “still don’t work properly, President Zelensky confirms,” disabling interceptors used against Russian jet-powered drones. That post linked to a news report on remarks Zelenskyy made to journalists on Saturday.
In those remarks, Zelenskyy said Starlink in Ukraine now works only up to 161 km per hour (100 mph), and “after that, according to the reports I have seen, Starlink shuts down completely and we lose the drone,” according to a translation by Interfax-Ukraine. He said Ukraine drove Starlink-equipped vehicles in European Union countries at more than 180 km per hour and the service kept working.
“The conclusion is this: the restrictions apply within Ukraine, but they do not apply within the European Union. In other words, this is a planned operation,” Zelenskyy said, according to the agency. He said Ukraine had been told “at various levels” that the problems were technical, an explanation he disputed. The Starlink portion of his Saturday remarks was not among the excerpts posted on his official X and Telegram accounts.
Two days earlier, Zelenskyy wrote on X, citing his conversation with media in Brussels, that “Starlink wasn’t turned off – its speed was reduced,” and that “when the speed was reduced, we were unable to intercept a certain number of jet-powered ‘shaheds.'” He added: “Has the speed been fully restored to what it was before? No. Is it being restored now? Yes.”
Ukraine first reported the restrictions on Oct. 14. That day, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote that “Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h is being restored” and that “removing Starshield’s speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine’s defense,” thanking Musk.
Musk replied that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” He wrote that Starlink is a commercial service controlled by SpaceX and that its use “is limited to civilian or defensive activities.”
Reuters reported on Oct. 16, citing two U.S. officials and a Western official, that Defense Department leaders received a message from inside the White House that Starshield service for Ukraine’s military needed to be slowed. A senior U.S. official told Reuters that “no such request was ever made by the president.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Saturday that “nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down” and that “my understanding is it’s been restored,” according to a State Department transcript. He said Starshield is “not at this moment available to Ukraine” and that Kyiv’s request for it was “under discussion.”
Later Saturday night, Gallego posted a clip of Rubio’s remarks, writing, “Innocent civilians are dying in Ukraine because of Trump/Musk and Rubio treats it like it’s a special at Applebee’s that has run out.”
In a reply in his thread early Sunday, responding to a user who said Europe had no jurisdiction over an American company, Gallego wrote: “Europe could decide that they don’t want to contract with Starlink if they prove to be an unreliable partner. That has more power than a court of a law.” His Senate website lists no release on Starlink.
Individual senators cannot issue subpoenas on their own; Senate committees do so under their own rules. Gallego sits on the Banking, Energy and Natural Resources, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Veterans’ Affairs committees, according to Senate committee assignments, and is the top Democrat on two subcommittees. He is not a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Republicans hold the Senate majority in the current Congress and chair every committee. Under the Homeland Security committee’s rules of procedure, the chair is authorized to issue full-committee subpoenas, with notice to the ranking minority member. Control of the Senate in the next Congress will be decided in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
A separate request to preserve records already exists. On Oct. 15, nine senators from both parties, including Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis, asked the Pentagon’s inspector general in a letter to investigate the restrictions and to ensure agencies and parties “preserve relevant communications, contractual records, technical directives, and correspondence,” including between the Defense Department and SpaceX. The letter said some services are provided under contracts “administered by the U.S. Space Force.” Gallego did not sign it.
Musk has previously said SpaceX would not cut off Ukraine. In March 2025, he wrote, “no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals,” adding, “We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip.” In February, replying to Fedorov, he wrote that “the steps we took to stop the unauthorized use of Starlink by Russia have worked.”
Musk has also described an earlier decision not to extend coverage. In September 2023, he wrote that he had not agreed to “an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol,” saying SpaceX would otherwise have been “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” On Oct. 15 this week, he posted “Time for Zelensky to go,” quoting another user’s post about Zelenskyy’s stance on ending the war.
The description of an “alliance with Russia” and the statement that subpoenas are coming are Gallego’s. No committee subpoena, announced investigation or Senate release concerning SpaceX or Starlink was found, and Gallego does not chair a committee.
As of Sunday afternoon, Musk, SpaceX and Starlink had not responded to Gallego on their X accounts. No Pentagon or Space Force statement on what caused the restrictions was found, and no Ukrainian official had responded to the post.
SpaceX has not publicly explained the speed cap. Rubio’s account that service was restored differs from Zelenskyy’s on Saturday, and the Reuters account relies on unnamed officials. No official Ukrainian transcript of Zelenskyy’s Saturday Starlink remarks was located.