U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, said late on Saturday that members of Congress criticizing SpaceX’s Starlink service in Ukraine had “a reason why they want the war to continue,” urging people to examine their campaign donors and stock portfolios. She posted about seven and a half hours after Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, wrote that Ukraine’s military had used Starlink “for offensive drone strikes to kill people.”
“Look at the Senators and Members of Congress that are currently attacking Starlink regarding Ukraine. None of these elected officials have engaged in PEACE talks. Now look at who is donating to their campaign and check out their stock portfolios. There is a reason why they want the war to continue,” Luna wrote in a post on X. She did not name any lawmakers, donors or holdings.
Musk wrote on Saturday afternoon in a post on X 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.” Musk also wrote that “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,” and said he had “UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict. May you burn in hell.”
About an hour and 20 minutes after Musk’s post, Luna’s personal account replied to Musk: “Everyone needs to look into the campaign donations and stock investments of the members of congress attacking Elon for pushing to end the war in Ukraine.” Her official account reposted Musk’s post about a minute after her own post on Saturday night.
“The UNITED STATES HAS SENT BILLIONS TO UKRAINE. 25,000 HUMANS are DYING a month due to the war. We MUST lead the negations to end the war,” Luna wrote in the same post. “STARLINK is NOT responsible for the FAILED foreign policy of the previous administration or CONGRESS. There was only ONE Democrat to date, in the entire House of Represenatives that was WILLING to engage in peace talks. END THE WAR!”
Musk’s post came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X on Saturday morning that “Starlink and Starshield operations have been restored to the speeds we had before the restrictions,” which Ukrainian forces had faced since the night of Oct. 13. Zelenskyy thanked “members of Congress, senators, all the media, the State Department, and the President.” Starshield is the military counterpart to Starlink, which Musk wrote “is controlled by the US government.”
Ukrainian officials disputed Musk’s account. Presidential adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram that since the winter, Starlink terminals over Ukrainian territory have been limited to movement speeds of 70 to 90 km per hour and that Starlink does not work over Russia. “We physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes and medium-range strikes,” he wrote, according to Ukrainian media translations. He also wrote that it was “very strange that Elon Musk doesn’t know about the restrictions on Starlink’s operation in Ukraine.”
Several Democratic senators have pressed SpaceX over the restrictions. Later on Saturday, Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona quoted Musk’s post, writing: “So it was you ? Just answer the subpoena truthfully and we can figure out the truth.” No subpoena to SpaceX has been made public. On Oct. 22, Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, announced an inquiry and asked Musk for written answers by Nov. 5 and a briefing by SpaceX officials by Nov. 12. On Friday, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado wrote on X that “Congress must find new partners to ensure Elon Musk and SpaceX do not execute a veto over U.S. national security.”
About 15 minutes after her first post, Luna wrote again that “@Starlink has had the SAME terms of use since the beginning,” and that the billions sent to Ukraine “came right back into Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election and the Democrat National Committee. ODNI Gabbard declassified that information.” The claim matches a March 25 report by the outlet Just the News, which said it had obtained a declassified intelligence summary of late-2022 intercepts alleging that Ukrainian officials and unspecified U.S. personnel discussed diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in clean-energy funds to Biden’s campaign and the DNC. The outlet reported that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had asked U.S. Agency for International Development officials to search records to see whether the plan was carried out. No public ODNI finding, FBI referral or charge establishing that any money reached the campaign or the DNC has been reported.
Congress appropriated $174.2 billion through five Ukraine-related supplemental spending laws from fiscal 2022 through fiscal 2024, according to the U.S. government’s Ukraine oversight website. That total includes humanitarian aid and money for U.S. forces in Europe, not only assistance to Ukraine’s government.
President Donald Trump used the same figure in his Feb. 24 State of the Union address, saying “25,000 soldiers are dying each and every month.” Neither Russia nor Ukraine publishes full casualty figures. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in January that Russian forces alone averaged more than 26,000 casualties a month, a figure that includes wounded and missing as well as dead.
Luna did not identify the Democrat she said was willing to engage in peace talks. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas was the only Democrat among the lawmakers who met on March 26 with a delegation of sanctioned Russian State Duma members whose visit to Washington Luna organized, The Hill and Politico reported.
As of early Sunday, Musk, SpaceX, Gallego, Blumenthal, Bennet and Zelenskyy’s office had not publicly responded to Luna’s posts. Beskrestnov’s comments were a response to Musk, not to Luna.
That lawmakers criticizing Starlink “want the war to continue” because of donors or stock holdings is Luna’s insinuation; she named no one and cited no financial records. Her figure of 25,000 deaths a month matches a number Trump has used but has not been independently verified. Her statement that U.S. aid flowed back to Biden’s campaign and the DNC rests on an alleged intelligence summary reported by one outlet that, as reported, did not show any money moved. Her assertion that Starlink’s terms have not changed is consistent with Musk’s statement that offensive use “has never been allowed,” though Musk said a “loophole” was closed last week, and Ukrainian officials say commercial Starlink cannot be used for medium- or long-range strikes. Gallego’s reference to a subpoena does not correspond to any subpoena made public.