UP IN THE AIR

Trump’s Big Boast Immediately Gets Humiliating Reality Check

Questions remain about who put in place plans to hinder Ukraine’s war efforts against Russia.

Donald Trump’s claims that Elon Musk has restored Ukraine’s access to a military-grade version of the Starlink network have been immediately rejected by Kyiv.

The 80-year-old president announced Thursday that Starshield was “back up” for Ukraine, amid allegations that Musk personally intervened and ordered restrictions on the satellite-based network Ukraine relies on to fight off the Russian invasion.

However, Ukrainian officials and soldiers said Friday that they were still experiencing issues and disruptions with Starshield, with no indication that the restrictions had been lifted.

Ukrainian commander Andriy “Klima” Klymenko, head of the 414th Unmanned Systems Brigade, told The Washington Post on Friday morning that Starshield was still operating “with constant interruptions,” although at a slightly higher speed than on Thursday.

Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense ministry, added in a statement: “We don’t notice that restrictions on Starlink have been lifted.

“There are individual cases when Starlink can move slightly faster than the restrictions, but this is likely the consequence of the SpaceX algorithm working, or specific usage conditions, not the removal of restrictions.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump’s on-again, off-again ally Musk had ordered restrictions on Starshield as the president ramps up his desperate bid to end the nearly five-year war in Ukraine, a conflict Trump claimed he would resolve within “one day” of returning to the White House in January 2025.

A follow-up bombshell from the Journal on Thursday revealed that Trump had directly called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s access to the military equivalent of Starlink.

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Trump complained to Musk that he was frustrated that system speeds remained capped at around 100 miles per hour, officials said. The artificial speed limit severely degraded Ukraine’s capability to launch offensive strike drones and deploy high-speed interceptors against incoming Russian bombardments.

The president dodged questions from reporters about the alleged phone call on Thursday.

“I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called or whether ⁠somebody else called, doesn’t make any difference, I guess,” Trump said. “The bottom line–he put it back.”

Musk has also tried to distance himself from claims that he or his company, SpaceX, were responsible for the slowdown.

“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform owned by the billionaire, on Oct. 14, when reports of the slowdown emerged.

Ukraine uses Starshield for battlefield communications and drone operations. For months, Ukraine has been bombarding Russia with drone strikes targeting crucial sites, including oil refineries, in an effort to pressure Moscow into ending the war.

One Ukrainian soldier told the BBC there is “simply no alternative” to Starshield in terms of its effectiveness on the battlefield and for drone strikes.

“I’ll tell you this much: God forbid they shut it off completely - it would be an absolute catastrophe,” he said. “We need a backup option for securing communications and internet.”

The Starshield slowdown came as Trump announced decisions that have greatly benefited Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, amid efforts to end the conflict.

These include allowing Russia to export diesel to global markets in a desperate bid to ease the global oil crisis ahead of the midterms, and waiving congressionally approved sanctions intended to restrict funding for the Kremlin’s war effort just two days before they were due to take effect.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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Ewan PalmerReporter

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