US senator investigates who restricted military Starlink in Ukraine
US Senator Richard Blumenthal (photo: Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal has launched an investigation into Ukraine's loss of access to Starshield, the Pentagon's satellite communications service, as the loss has weakened the country's ability to repel Russian attacks, according to Reuters.
Blumenthal investigates Starshield restrictions
Senator said Ukraine lost critical access to Starshield 10 days ago.
"In the late evening of October 13, Ukrainian forces lost critical access to Starshield, the military-grade counterpart to SpaceX's Starlink network, after their access to speeds at which equipment could stay connected to the network was capped," he wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The senator is investigating who has the technical and legal authority to change these capabilities and whether the Pentagon has "sufficient alternatives" if SpaceX services become unavailable.
He said the move:
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Puts Ukrainian troops and civilians at risk
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Raises concerns about who controls critical capabilities the US government has spent billions acquiring.
Blumenthal told Hegseth that the Senate committee would examine the government's relationship with SpaceX technology and its dependence on it.
He set a November 5 deadline for responses to the questions outlined in his letter to the defense secretary and November 12 for a briefing with SpaceX officials familiar with the Starshield restrictions.
If Democrats gain control of the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections, he is likely to become chairman of the investigative committee.
As previously reported, speed restrictions on Starlink satellite communications are still in effect in Ukraine. The United States has once again promised to "look into the issue."
In addition, limits on the operation of military Starlink terminals remain in place in Ukraine despite US President Donald Trump's statement that they had been lifted, according to Zelenskyy's adviser Dmytro Lytvyn.
