Ukraine's access to Starlink is up to SpaceX and Elon Musk, not the White House, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.

The post Marco Rubio: Elon Musk Decides Ukraine’s Access to Starlink, Not the White House appeared first on Breitbart.

As Washington leans on Ukraine to make a deal with Russia amid its diesel agreement ahead of the US elections, its European partners are meeting to keep it armed against deadly weapons.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he met Kongsberg CEO Eirik Lie and Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik in Oslo on 21 October to discuss more NASAMS air defenses, a day after meeting US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff in the same city.

Washington has spent the past two weeks easing pressure on Russia and leaning on Kyiv, with a diesel deal, throttled Starlink, and talk of cutting intelligence, while Ukraine’s European partners move in the other direction. Russia pounds Ukrainian cities almost nightly, and the Norwegian-made NASAMS is one of the systems holding that barrage off critical infrastructure.

Kongsberg opened an office in Ukraine in 2025. Its NASAMS uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile built by the US defense giant RTX, the same firm behind the Patriot launchers that are Ukraine’s only means of downing Russian ballistic and hypersonic missiles. The same missile is also used in F-16s.

“They effectively protect our people and critical infrastructure from Russian missile and drone attacks virtually every day,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that Ukraine is counting on additional defense support packages next month.

A European shield Ukraine wants tested this year

The visit also advanced a joint missile-defense project. Norway is actively involved in FREYJA, a European anti-ballistic missile program that Ukraine is helping to build.

“There are already first results in creating individual elements of the system. Today we determined where we can and must speed up to reach testing by the end of this year,” Zelenskyy said.

FREYJA now draws in 10 countries and is built around an interceptor missile designed to stop ballistic threats, a capability Europe largely lacks against Russia’s fastest weapons.

A push for satellites as Starlink falters

Zelenskyy also raised satellite communications amid the scandal over speed limitations on Elon Musk’s military Starlink service that disrupted a series of front-line missions.

“We discussed in detail the start of work on new satellite-communication capabilities for our soldiers,” the president said, adding that Kyiv would bring in partners able to support them.

The push comes after SpaceX throttled the StarShield military package Ukrainian drones use. Ukraine’s 7th Air Assault Corps said the connection began dropping as drones moved at speed, negatively affecting their missions.

• AT&T CEO is brushing off concerns that satellite-based internet could threaten his business.
• "I think LEO constellations are fantastic for delivering bandwidth to rural areas," he said.
• When it comes to where lots of people live, he said fiber-connected performance can't be beat.

Elon Musk wants SpaceX to become a major US mobile carrier. AT&T CEO John Stankey says: not so fast.

AT&T has an advantage from years of investment in dense urban and suburban areas, he said on AT&T's third-quarter earnings call, a day after Musk and SpaceX chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell reported more than 22 million monthly Starlink Mobile users.

"Our competitors cannot and will not match our operating proficiency, network performance, or exceptional converged value proposition," Stankey said.

Stankey sees a use case for satellite-based internet to soften the edges of fiber-connected and 5G networks, especially in places where it's too expensive to build out the physical infrastructure, he said.

"I think LEO constellations are fantastic for delivering bandwidth to rural areas," he said, using the acronym for low-Earth orbit satellite arrays.

Shotwell said Tuesday that Starlink recently got FCC approval to launch 15,000 V2 satellites. She also noted a recent agreement to acquire a portfolio of low-band transmission spectrum, or wireless frequency licenses, which better penetrate buildings to reach indoor devices.

Stankey was unimpressed.

"How you perform indoors, of course, is extremely important, and we shouldn't think about those as being nominal loads," he said. "They're significant loads, even with robust Wi-Fi networks that are out there."

This is especially critical in crowded environments like stadiums and hospitals, where he said AT&T has been focused on beefing up signal support.

"I wouldn't over-rotate on what I would call one carrier of low band spectrum," he said, referring to Starlink.

• Elon Musk's Starlink service is being drawn into Russia's campaign of hybrid operations in Europe.
• There have been several attacks against Starlink infrastructure across Europe in recent weeks.
• SpaceX's lucrative connectivity business has become a military and political target.

Elon Musk and SpaceX have gotten caught up in very public battles over Starlink's role in the war in Ukraine, but they're also being drawn into another, less visible conflict: Russia's shadowy campaign of hybrid operations against the West.

The past few weeks have seen attacks and attempted sabotage against Starlink infrastructure across Europe. Western officials are blaming Russia for at least some of the incidents, and Ukrainian intelligence has warned that Moscow could ramp up these efforts.

Kęstutis Budrys, Lithuania's foreign minister, said on Sunday that a sabotage attempt targeting Starlink infrastructure near Vilnius was thwarted the previous night. He said that the aim was to "undermine a capability critical" to Ukrainian defense and civilian communications.

Budrys characterized the incident as "a direct consequence of Russia's war" and later described the act as an element of Russian hybrid operations against Europe — sabotage, attacks, drone incursions, and other actions that Western officials have attributed to Moscow in recent years. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement.

Starlink infrastructure is a growing target. The civilian satellite internet service and its military-grade variant are used by NATO and Ukraine for battlefield communications and operations.

Last week, Poland blamed Russian intelligence services for a sabotage incident in September — two Turkish citizens were arrested in connection with a fire at a Starlink satellite station near Warsaw. Donald Tusk, the country's prime minister, called the attack "another act of hybrid warfare."

There was also a recent attack on Starlink antennas near Bulgaria's capital, according to media reports.

Ukraine's GUR military intelligence warned on October 2 that Russia could target Starlink infrastructure in Europe as part of its campaign.

Speaking Monday, after the most recent incident involving Starlink, Lithuania's Budrys said that "we are seeing coordinated efforts to target critical infrastructure linked to support for Ukraine, logistics chains and other important facilities."

"These are not isolated crimes," he added. "They are part of Russia's broader hybrid campaign against Europe, aimed at intimidating allies, undermining support for Ukraine, and testing our resilience."

Neither Russia's defense ministry nor its embassies in Poland or Lithuania responded to requests for comment from Business Insider about these allegations.

Lithuania's defense ministry said in a statement that the thwarted attack is not the first time it has seen an attempt to set fire to companies providing support to Ukraine. The ministry added that "attempts to damage Starlink equipment have recently occurred in other countries as well."

Attempted sabotage of Starlink infrastructure is not a recent development, though. British authorities, for instance, determined that Russian intelligence was behind a March 2024 arson attack targeting a London warehouse storing Starlink equipment bound for Ukraine.

"Neither space nor our societies are sanctuaries," US Army Col. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesperson for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, told Business Insider. "Fortunately, NATO has strategies for countering threats to both, and for defending the alliance."

NATO leadership and European Union officials have said the hybrid campaign won't derail support for Ukraine.

"As the threat level climbs, so must Europe's preparedness," Christian Wigand, the EU's lead foreign affairs and security policy spokesperson, told Business Insider. "Moscow is trying to scare Europe into winding down its support for Ukraine," he said. "This will not happen."

SpaceX in the crosshairs

Although the sabotage attempts in Poland and Lithuania targeted Starlink equipment at sites run by third parties, not by SpaceX directly, the incidents are a sign of how the company and Starlink are becoming increasingly entangled in the war between Ukraine and Russia and Moscow's hybrid operations against the West.

That entanglement is turning SpaceX's lucrative connectivity business into a military and political target.

Starlink accounted for over 60% of SpaceX's revenue last year and has been the funding engine for the company's cash-burning artificial intelligence and rocket ventures.

In SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call this week, the company reported that government and enterprise revenues were up 91% year over year, and executives told investors they expect this revenue stream to eventually exceed income from selling Starlink terminals to consumers.

As SpaceX contends with Starlink infrastructure becoming a target of hybrid Russian warfare, the company and its leadership are also facing controversies from the war in Ukraine that put that business at risk.

Earlier this month, Ukraine's access to Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, was limited without warning, complicating operations.

Ukrainian defense ministry sources told Business Insider that Starshield was restricted at speeds above 100 miles per hour, disrupting the Starlink-equipped drones that have become a crucial part of Ukraine's war machine, with some Ukrainian and foreign officials initially blaming SpaceX and Musk.

Musk redirected concerns in a social media post, saying that Starshield is operated by the US government and that the president and the Pentagon are responsible for such decisions. A senior US official told Business Insider last week that President Donald Trump did not order the Starshield restrictions.

Multiple media outlets have since reported that Musk ordered the disruption. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

This incident has sparked calls from European officials for the EU to divest from Starlink in favor of local alternatives not controlled by Musk or the US.

Christophe Grudler, a member of the European Parliament, wrote to EU leaders urging them to accelerate development of IRIS2, a European rival to Starlink that is set to begin satellite deployments in 2029, while other lawmakers also called on Europe to reduce its reliance on US tech.

Europe is not alone in seeking alternatives. In an interview with The New York Times in September, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed that Canada would "diversify away" from Starlink in favor of a locally developed satellite network. He pointed to previous instances of Starlink access in Ukraine being throttled or disrupted.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Zelenskyy said the limits on Starlink in Ukraine had made it clear that Europe needs to develop its own alternatives, and fast.

"All of Europe has seen that it can be controlled from the United States, regardless of agreements or contracts, that Starlink speeds can be restricted," said Ukraine's president.

"That's why the Europeans are now raising the question of alternatives themselves. They're already making progress, and they'll succeed in this area," he added. Such an outcome could pose a major threat to SpaceX's ambitions to sell Starlink and Starshield to governments worldwide.

In the meantime, Starlink remains largely unrivaled, and Ukraine continues to face service restrictions, while Europe faces the threat of repeated hybrid attacks on Starlink infrastructure.

Las cuatro mayores operadoras de telecomunicaciones europeas –Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica y Vodafone– planean una alianza para competir con la empresa estadounidense de satélites Starlink en el negocio de la conectividad vía satélite. Cualquier ambición de librarse de la dependencia de Estados Unidos y otras potencias que erosionan o directamente atacan los intereses de Europa, debe empezar con movimientos como este. Aunque se encuentra en una fase embrionaria, el proyecto supone un avance en el refuerzo de la autonomía, la seguridad y la resiliencia en infraestructuras críticas de la Unión Europea.

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• Elon Musk says it's "no longer impossible" that SpaceX will generate $1 trillion of revenue in 2028.
• The SpaceX CEO said in August that his company projected that much revenue for 2030.
• SpaceX would have to grow its revenue 53-fold in three years to reach Musk's new figure.

Elon Musk always shoots for the moon, but he's aiming even higher with his latest suggestion.

"As crazy as this sounds, $1T in SpaceX revenue in 2028 is no longer impossible," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said in a Tuesday post on X.

That's an even more ambitious timeframe than Musk has previously given. He said in August that SpaceX was internally projecting $1 trillion of revenue in 2030, and there was a "non-zero" chance it could reach that amount in 2029.

Musk made his latest pronouncement within hours of saying on SpaceX's third-quarter earnings webcast that annual recurring revenue could reach between $500 billion and $1 trillion by the end of 2027.

In a post-earnings note, JPMorgan forecast SpaceX would generate $254 billion of revenue in 2027.

If SpaceX were to generate $1 trillion in revenue in 2028, that would represent a 53-fold increase in three years. It earned just under $19 billion in 2025. It shared its historical financials prior to going public this summer.

After the bell on Tuesday, SpaceX — the company behind Falcon rockets, Starlink satellites, X, and AI chatbot Grok — posted close to $15 billion in revenue last quarter, up 161% from the same period of 2025.

The key driver was its super-intelligence division, where revenue surged 830%, from around $800 million to $7.6 billion. SpaceX attributed the growth to new cloud services agreements, around $600 million of revenue from its recent Cursor acquisition, and increased Grok adoption by enterprises.

To put Musk's $1 trillion revenue figure in context, Amazon and Walmart, the two highest-revenue companies on the planet, both generated a little over $700 billion in net sales last financial year.

Musk is floating the possibility that SpaceX could generate more than 40% more revenue than either of them did last year, in about two years' time.

It's unclear whether Musk is including Tesla, which generated about $95 billion of revenue last year, in his newest revenue figure. He revealed on Tuesday that Tesla and SpaceX have formed committees to explore a potential merger.

Susannah Streeter, Wealth Club's chief investment strategist, told Business Insider by email that a tie-up could "combine expertise in AI, chips, robotics and connectivity."

But she added that "bringing two enormous businesses with very different operations and capital demands under one roof would be a hugely complex undertaking."

Streeter said that notching $1 trillion in annual revenue in 2028 would be a "very tall order" and require an "extraordinary leap in the scale of the business."

"Moving the goalposts from 2030 to 2028 suggests he is increasingly confident that several growth drivers could accelerate at once, but there is a difference between a target that is technically possible and one that is commercially realistic," she added.

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Bank, told BI by email that Musk's latest revenue figure is "pushing it" and "would imply such an enormous pull-forward in demand as to defy credibility."

Wilson added that he'd "never say never" about SpaceX hitting $1 trillion of revenue, "but by 2028 I'd say the chance is zero, whatever Elon says!"

In his book The Nerd Reich, journalist Gil Durán examines how Silicon Valley’s wealthiest investors are extending their influence over American politics, democratic institutions and national sovereignty. His warnings come amid unprecedented political spending by technology billionaires and growing concern over private control of strategic infrastructure.

Elon Musk has contributed more than $276 million since July to Republican political causes ahead of the United States midterm elections on 3 November. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said decisions over Ukraine’s access to SpaceX satellite communications rest with the company rather than the White House. Both developments demonstrate how private technological and financial resources can influence decisions traditionally associated with government.

For journalist Gil Durán, author of The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, published by Avid Reader Press in August 2026, the issue extends beyond campaign donations. In a recent interview, he argued that a group of Silicon Valley investors is using its financial influence and control of technology to challenge the authority of elected governments.

“We’re at a decisive stage of that race,” Durán said when asked about the contest between technology and democracy described by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. His argument is that wealth alone no longer satisfies some of the industry’s most influential figures; they also want a direct role in determining how societies are governed.

The ideological origins of billionaire power

Durán places Thiel at the centre of this movement. In a 2009 essay, The Education of a Libertarian, the PayPal co-founder wrote that he no longer believed freedom and democracy were compatible. He argued that technological innovation could allow individuals to escape the constraints of conventional politics.

Thiel subsequently clarified that he was not advocating disenfranchisement. His stated position was that majority rule often frustrated individual liberty. Durán, however, interprets the essay and Thiel’s subsequent political investments as evidence of a sustained interest in diminishing democratic constraints on private power.

The book also examines The Sovereign Individual, a 1997 work by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg that anticipated how digital currencies and technological change might weaken the power of nation states. Durán sees its influence in later arguments for privately organised alternatives to traditional government.

One example is The Network State, developed by entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan. It proposes that online communities could acquire territory and eventually obtain diplomatic recognition. Advocates describe a voluntary model of political organisation; Durán regards the prospect of corporate-financed jurisdictions as a challenge to public accountability.

From venture capital to the White House

The relationship between Thiel and Vice-President JD Vance illustrates how venture capital can translate into political influence. Thiel supported Vance’s early investment career and contributed $15 million to a super PAC backing his successful 2022 Senate bid. Durán attributes much of Vance’s political ascent to that support, although voters, party endorsements and Vance’s own campaigning also shaped the result.

Musk’s latest contributions offer a more immediate example. His donations since July include $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund and more than $76 million to America PAC. Such spending is lawful under the rules governing independent political committees, which cannot coordinate their expenditure with candidates.

Durán contends that similar pressures affect Democrats, arguing that wealthy donors can exercise influence across party lines. His criticism therefore concerns the political system’s dependence on private funding as much as any particular administration.

Technology as an instrument of strategic power

The consequences extend beyond elections. Ukraine’s dependence on satellite communications has exposed how a privately owned service can become essential to military operations. Restrictions affecting Starlink-related services have prompted competing accounts from US officials and SpaceX over responsibility for the decision. Rubio’s latest remarks point towards commercial control, while earlier reporting attributed the decision to Washington.

Artificial intelligence raises comparable questions of ownership and oversight. Durán argues that investors promoting transformative AI may also seek regulatory conditions that protect their substantial financial commitments. His prediction of a possible investment bubble remains a judgement, not an established outcome.

In Europe, the debate has immediate regulatory consequences. The EU’s Digital Services Act requires major online platforms to assess risks to elections and civic debate, while enforcement of important provisions of the AI Act began in August 2026. These measures address the influence of companies whose platforms and systems operate across borders.

Durán’s interpretation of Silicon Valley as a coherent anti-democratic movement remains contested. The entrepreneurs he discusses have differing interests, and their political influence does not itself establish a common plan to dismantle democratic government.

Their influence is nevertheless measurable in campaign finances, government contracts and control over infrastructure essential to national security. None of these forms of power requires holding elected office.

Ukrainian drone maker Wild Hornets is rethinking projects it is currently working on, including launching interceptors from aerial platforms, because of limits on SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet. Spokesman Mike Orliuk told The War Zone (TWZ) this on 20 October. The company builds Sting interceptors, which it says destroyed over 15,000 Shaheds and Gerberas, a cheaper Shahed lookalike, in a year. Orliuk said Sting’s current operations are unaffected.

The stakes rise as Russia shifts to faster drones. Ukrainian defense technology adviser Serhii Beskrestnov counted more than 2,500 jet-powered Gerans, Russia’s version of the Shahed, in August. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 16 October that these drones fly faster than 400 km/h. He added that some Ukrainian interceptors chasing them work through Starlink. When the link was slowed, Ukraine could not intercept some of them, he said.

How Sting stays connected

“Our own communications system provides the basic connection to our interceptors,” Orliuk said. The company’s remote-control technology can draw on various internet sources, he added, though the military often uses Starlink. Even then, the terminal does not need to move at high speed. It only links the command center to a ground station, which Orliuk compared to a cell tower.

“For these needs, everything is operating normally with Starlink at the moment,” he said.

An air-launch project under review

“Some drones carry a terminal on board and need to fly at high speed with it,” Orliuk said. “In such cases, Starlink’s limitations make their operation impossible.”

That is why the company is rethinking the air-launch project. Wild Hornets has made no clear decision yet but will test alternatives, Orliuk said. He declined to describe them.

“I believe, in any case, depending on a single solution is very risky,” he said.

Explore further

Musk pointed at the US military over Ukraine’s satellite limits. Now a US official says the administration had nothing to do with them

Other firms share the concern

Orliuk said he has spoken with other companies that rely far more on Starlink and have expressed concerns. He pointed to growing interest in Europe’s Eutelsat network, though “creating something like Starlink won’t be easy.”

Who ordered the slowdown remains unclear. The order to slow Ukraine’s Starshield service came from inside the White House, two US officials and a Western official said. A US official told TWZ the president never made such a request. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 17 October that the slowdown had “nothing to do with the White House” and called “a report on that” “categorically false,” without saying which report he meant.

Elon Musk ordered the speed cap on Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink network that Ukraine’s drones rely on, The Wall Street Journal reported on 20 October. Earlier, Musk said that such limits are decided by the US military and “ultimately POTUS.” Speaking to reporters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on 20 October, according to WSJ, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “We haven’t made any directives or anything like that,” CBS News reported.

For a week, no one with a hand on the system said the decision was theirs. Musk pointed to the US military and the president, and Trump said he did not know who it was. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said the cap has hampered the drones they use to intercept Russian Shaheds and to strike Russian forces in occupied territory. Kyiv says the cap remains in place, and at about 160 km/h it makes intercepting jet-powered drones and missiles that fly about twice as fast virtually impossible.

Musk spoke with administration officials, including Trump, before the cap, a source says

Musk capped the speeds at which Ukrainian hardware could stay connected to the network, people familiar with the matter told WSJ. The slowdown, which began on 14 October, left some of Ukraine’s strike and interceptor drones virtually useless, WSJ said.

WSJ’s sources differ on Trump’s role. Some US officials said Musk acted on his own and that Trump did not specifically order any retribution against Ukraine. One person said Musk spoke with several senior administration officials, Trump among them, before imposing the cap. Two people said Musk and Trump discussed the decision by phone soon after the slowdown became public.

During the uproar, SpaceX representatives called White House counterparts. They asked for a shared message that the company and the administration had coordinated before Musk’s directive, the people said. The White House ran an informal inquiry into who ordered the slowdown, WSJ said.

Musk held several conversations with administration officials before the order to understand the president’s thinking, CBS reported, citing sources. He dislikes his company being seen as profiting from the war, and it is unclear how his order was carried out, CBS said.

Hegseth points to Starlink’s terms of service

Hegseth said the US had not pulled anything back. He said Starlink “has the option” to make decisions under its terms of service, and that from the Pentagon’s view nothing had changed, CBS reported.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on 16 October, Trump said he did not think either he or Musk was responsible, The Telegraph reported. On 19 October, he said, “I don’t know who it was, but I’d like to find out.”

Last week, a bipartisan group of senators asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate whether officials “directed” or “authorized” changes to Starlink and Starshield services and intelligence sharing affecting Ukraine.

Earlier reports pointed at the White House

On 15 October, Reuters reported that the order came from inside the White House. The officials said Pentagon leaders received a message that the Starshield service for Ukraine’s military needed to be slowed, but did not say who made the decision or who carried it out. A senior US official said “No such request was ever made by the president.”

On 16 October, The Telegraph reported, citing four sources, that Musk approached Trump with the idea of the speed limits. One of the sources said Trump agreed.

Analysts and Kyiv say the cap is still in place

Michael Kofman, a war analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, said, according to WSJ, that Ukrainian strike and interceptor drones remain limited to 160 km/h. He said actual connections run below 130 km/h, which still hampers strikes and air defense.

On 20 October, Ukraine’s top diplomat in Washington, Denys Sienik, said Kyiv was still waiting for answers from the Pentagon and SpaceX, WSJ reported.

O secretário de Estado dos EUA, Marco Rubio, afirmou nesta quarta-feira (21) que as decisões relativas ao acesso da Ucrânia ao Starlink cabem à SpaceX e a Elon Musk, e não à Casa Branca — comentários que sugeriram que Musk poderia ter restringido o acesso de Kiev ao serviço.

O Wall Street Journal noticiou na terça-feira (20) que Musk havia ordenado a redução da velocidade de uma versão de nível militar do Starlink, da qual a Ucrânia depende para se defender contra ataques com mísseis da Rússia.

Segundo o jornal, uma fonte disse que Musk, o presidente Donald Trump e autoridades da Casa Branca discutiram o assunto previamente, e duas fontes afirmaram que Musk e o presidente discutiram o assunto nos dias seguintes à redução da velocidade.

“Não tenho conhecimento de que soubéssemos dessa decisão com antecedência. Mas isso é irrelevante”, disse Rubio a repórteres durante uma viagem à Índia.

“O ponto principal é que isso é regido por um contrato comercial privado quanto à forma como seus equipamentos podem ser utilizados e a quais velocidades eles permitem que sejam utilizados.”

Musk e a SpaceX não responderam aos pedidos de comentário da Reuters.

De acordo com a Reuters, duas autoridades norte-americanas e uma autoridade ocidental a par do assunto disseram que a decisão, em última instância, partiu da Casa Branca. Essa versão também foi afirmada pelo presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelenskiy, mas negada pelo governo.

Os comentários de Rubio provavelmente intensificarão as preocupações em Washington quanto à capacidade singular de Musk de influenciar a política externa dos EUA. Eles também representam uma aparente mudança de posição por parte do governo.

Trump afirmou publicamente que acreditava que nem ele nem Musk estavam por trás da desaceleração. Ao partir para uma viagem ao Uzbequistão e à Índia no sábado, Rubio havia dito que ninguém ordenou a desaceleração, uma afirmação que gerou críticas de parlamentares de ambos os partidos.

“Não tenho certeza se Zelenskiy sabe do que está falando, mas não foi deliberado”, disse Rubio na ocasião.

“Não temos nada a ver com isso. Eu não — os Estados Unidos, ninguém ordenou que a velocidade do Starlink fosse reduzida. Aconteceu de certa forma, mas, pelo que entendi, já foi restaurada”, declarou Rubio.

Análise: Tensões entre Trump e Zelensky ameaçam apoio dos EUA à Ucrânia

SpaceX plans to turn on its direct-to-device (D2D) service in early 2028 after launching the second generation Starlink Mobile constellation during 2027 and integrating spectrum it is acquiring.

On its Q3 earnings call, president Gwynne Shotwell said the low-band spectrum SpaceX agreed to buy earlier this month and the Federal Communications Commission’s approval to launch 15,000 next generation V2 birds “pave the way for Starlink Mobile to become a major mobile carrier in the US”.

On 8 October, SpaceX struck a deal to buy up to 14MHz of paired spectrum in the 800MHz band to support its plans. The agreement with Grain Management is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

Shotwell indicated comments on the previous quarter’s call covered smaller radios for the D2D service, which she described as not quite tower capable, that SpaceX could place on homes and businesses where Starlink is already installed.

“So, it’s not just the spectrum that we’ve talked about with the S-band,” she said on yesterday’s (20 October) earnings call. “We will basically leverage the real estate from Starlink installs and other towers.”

SpaceX plans to pair its satellites with ground-based radios to provide 5G mobile coverage, a plan many executives in the industry consider far-fetched.

When asked about the roles the satellite and terrestrial networks will play for the D2D service, CEO Elon Musk said a more detailed presentation may be needed to explain Starlink’s connectivity strategy and why the company believes it could eventually generate several hundred billion dollars in annual revenue.

“You are missing some of the pieces that we know about internally,” he said. “I can say we do see a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue, but I think we should probably describe that in more detail in a forum that’s not limited to a few minutes at an earnings call.”

Q3 numbers
SpaceX reported net income of $4.4 billion for Q3 (ending 30 September), compared with a $1.1 billion loss a year earlier, as revenue more than doubled to $14.6 billion, driven largely by its AI business.

It was the company’s second earnings report since its June stock market listing. Revenue was up 161% year-on-year.

The Super Intelligence segment, previously reported as AI, accounted for around $6.7 billion of the roughly $9 billion increase, with revenue rising to $7.6 billion from $813 million. SpaceX attributed the segment’s growth to new cloud services agreements, the Cursor acquisition and growing use of Grok.

Income from operations was $2.8 billion, compared with a $273 million loss a year ago, and adjusted EBITDA was $8.8 billion, up 306%.

Connectivity revenue rose 69% to $5.2 billion and operating income climbed 99% to $2.4 billion.

Starlink had 13.6 million consumer broadband subscribers, up 1.6 million in the quarter and from 7.2 million in Q3 2025.

For its direct-to-device service, Shotwell said Starlink Mobile surpassed 22 million monthly users at the end of the quarter, up 37% from the previous quarter.

SpaceX remains loss-making for the year to date, with a nine-month net loss of $413 million.

The post SpaceX targets early 2028 for own D2D service launch appeared first on Mobile World Live.

Un drone russo a pilotaggio remoto ha colpito un autobus di linea a Zaporizhzhia, ferendo una persona. A denunciare l’attacco, secondo quanto riportato da ‘Ukrinform’, è stato il capo ad interim dell’amministrazione militare regionale di Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin, con un messaggio su Telegram. “Le forze russe hanno attaccato un autobus municipale a Zaporizhzhia. Un drone Fpv si è schiantato sul tetto dell’autobus”, hanno dichiarato le autorità regionali in un post su Telegram.

Le forze ucraine hanno colpito le infrastrutture energetiche nella città di Chystiakove, nell’oblast di Donetsk, mentre sono stati segnalati blackout in Crimea a causa di attacchi di droni. Lo riporta ‘The Kyiv Independent’, spiegando anche che un sito di telecomunicazioni a Luhansk è stato colpito. In particolare, un massiccio attacco di droni ha preso di mira Chystiakove, mentre nel distretto di Krasnoperekopskyi, in Crimea, alcuni testimoni oculari hanno segnalato attacchi di droni vicino alla stazione ferroviaria e il rumore di sistemi di difesa aerea russi in funzione.

Elon Musk avrebbe ordinato di limitare la velocità di connessione dei satelliti Starlink utilizzati dall’Ucraina per la propria difesa. Lo riporta il Wall Street Journal, che, citando funzionari statunitensi e persone a conoscenza dei fatti, scrive che Musk, fondatore e amministratore delegato di SpaceX, “ha imposto un limite alle velocità con cui l’hardware ucraino poteva rimanere connesso alla rete satellitare” di Starlink. Tale decisione avrebbe reso “praticamente inutilizzabili” alcuni droni offensivi e intercettori ucraini, scrive il quotidiano, secondo cui Musk e il presidente degli Stati Uniti Donald Trump avrebbero discusso della decisione relativa a Starlink “durante una telefonata poco dopo che la limitazione era stata resa pubblica”, ma avevano già affrontato l’argomento in precedenza, hanno riferito le fonti al Wsj.

Il Segretario alla Difesa degli Stati Uniti, Pete Hegseth, ha attribuito a Starlink, la compagnia guidata da Elon Musk, la decisione finale che riguarda la copertura satellitare richiesta dall’Ucraina nel conflitto con la Russia. Quando gli è stato chiesto se il Pentagono avesse ridotto l’impiego della rete satellitare, come sostenuto dal presidente ucraino Volodymyr Zelensky, Hegseth ha risposto: “Non abbiamo ridotto nulla. Ci sono condizioni di servizio che devono essere rispettate e, in ultima analisi, spetta a Starlink decidere in merito. Ma, dal nostro punto di vista, non è cambiato nulla. Non abbiamo impartito direttive né fatto nulla del genere e, naturalmente, auguriamo agli ucraini di avere successo”.

L'articolo Guerra in Ucraina, bombardata Zaporizhzhia: ennesima notte di sangue. Wsj: “Musk ha ordinato il rallentamento di Starlink” proviene da Affaritaliani.it.

• Starlink missed on customer growth expectations. It's still making a ton of money for SpaceX.
• The company is leaning heavily on large customers, like governments.
• The company acquired a spectrum provider in October. Execs said they're targeting mobile providers.

Starlink is SpaceX's big cash cow. And it just reported some mixed results.

On Tuesday, during the company's earnings call, SpaceX said its satellite-internet service had 13.6 million consumer subscribers at the end of September, up 1.6 million from three months earlier. That fell short of the 14.2 million expected by Bloomberg analysts — though the company said the figure excludes hundreds of thousands of enterprise subscribers and aviation customers.

Still, Starlink is making a lot of money. Monthly consumer revenue per user rose 5% from the previous quarter, while enterprise and government revenue jumped 91% from a year earlier to $2.1 billion.

A big, important customer? Airlines. The company said that, as of the end of September, 3,800 total aircraft had been outfitted with Starlink equipment.

"Aviation remains a major growth opportunity, as we're still early in the installation phase with many of the largest carriers worldwide," CFO Bret Johnsen said on Tuesday's earnings call.

SpaceX's next venture: your phone

The company has recently focused on becoming a mobile provider.

On October 8, SpaceX announced it had agreed to buy a portfolio of low-band wireless spectrum from Grain Management. The deal gives SpaceX a key ingredient that could turn its Starlink satellite-internet provider into a direct challenger to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

SpaceX said the spectrum would power Starlink Mobile, which it has described as a hybrid satellite-and-terrestrial network designed to work indoors, outdoors, and in cellular dead zones.

It also comes after SpaceX hinted that it saw itself as a challenger to mobile carriers during its first-ever earnings call in August. The company's president, Gwynne Shotwell, hinted that the company was considering building a "cellular base station on basically the gear that holds the Starlink broadband dish," rather than a ground-based system.

They said the market was worth $600 billion annually.

"I anticipate us to be able to acquire quite a few of their customers," Shotwell said.

During the earnings call, Shotwell said, "The vast majority of mobile connectivity is actually WiFi," an area where Starlink is already well-versed.

"Keep in mind, Starlink broadband does a lot of WiFi work as well," she said. "As far as the mix goes, I think we expect that the S-band spectrum will provide the majority. And then obviously, you need the low-band spectrum, the 800 megahertz spectrum, to basically penetrate buildings. So if you're not on WiFi, you can still receive the signal."

Musk said that there was probably a need for a longer presentation about their Starlink plans.

"I can say we do see a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue," he said. "But I think we should lay — probably describe that in a — in more detail in a forum that's not limited to a few minutes at an earnings call."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on 20 October that he had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about ballistic missile interceptors, early warning of Russian launches, and “the situation with Starlink/Starshield, which needs to be restored,” he wrote on X. He thanked Rubio for “his readiness to help and his clear position” and said they would speak again soon. A day earlier, he had told US senators how each of those supplies had stalled.

This comes as the US presses Kyiv to stop its strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Trump has blamed for high fuel prices at home, and Zelenskyy counts the Starlink slowdown among the steps he says look like an effort to push Ukraine to capitulate. Ukraine’s interceptor drones depend on the service to hunt Russia’s jet-powered Shaheds, and Kyiv says they now lose the link at speeds too low to catch them. The call appears not to have settled whether that cap is gone. If it stays, Ukrainian cities could face Russia’s drone waves this winter with one fewer means to stop them, as Russia keeps striking the grid.

On 17 October, Rubio told reporters that nobody in the US ordered Starlink slowed, that the slowdown “wasn’t deliberate,” and that “my understanding is it’s been restored.” He drew a line between the two services. Ukraine’s drones, he said, ran on commercial Starlink, while Starshield, the military version, is not available to Ukraine. Kyiv has asked for it to carry out strikes deep inside Russia, and that request is under discussion, he said.

The next day, Zelenskyy told Bloomberg that Starlink in Ukraine cuts out above 161 km/h, and Kyiv says its Starshield terminals are capped as well. His post after the call still says the service needs to be restored.

Reuters’ sources point to the White House. Washington denies it

The order to slow Starshield came from inside the White House, Reuters reported, citing two US officials and a Western official. They described it as the Starshield service for the Ukrainian military, the version Rubio says Ukraine does not have. A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Kyiv had been told it was a White House decision. A senior US official told the agency the president never made such a request, and the White House did not answer whether other officials had. Rubio called a report that the White House ordered Starlink slowed “categorically false.”

Missile warnings and Patriots are also in dispute

Overnight on 18–19 October, Ukraine got no partner warning before the first of two Russian ballistic waves, Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on the national telethon. That came hours after Zelenskyy said US warnings had resumed. On 19 October, Rubio pushed back against suggestions of a pause in US intelligence sharing, AFP reported.

Zelenskyy also told Bloomberg the US sends only 12 Patriot interceptors a month and has authorized only part of those “we have paid for” under PURL. Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not signed the contracts. A US government official called those claims “not true.”

Ukraine got no early warning from its partners of the first wave of Russian ballistic missiles on the night of 18–19 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told US senators on 19 October. He also said Starlink and Starshield terminals still stop working above certain speeds on parts of the front, and that Washington has explained neither problem. In the same video call, according to a transcript obtained by Axios, he said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not signing off on deliveries of Patriot interceptors and AIM-9X missiles for NASAMS that NATO countries have already paid for.

This comes as the US presses Kyiv to stop its strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Trump has blamed for high fuel prices at home. Washington supplies both the early launch warnings and the Patriot interceptors Ukraine needs against Russian ballistic missiles, and Zelenskyy says both are now failing at once, as Russia keeps firing ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s grid ahead of winter. If neither the warnings nor the interceptors come through, Ukrainian cities would face winter strikes with less notice and fewer means to stop them.

On the morning of 20 October, Zelenskyy wrote that he had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about interceptors against ballistic missiles, early warning of Russian ballistic attacks, and restoring Starlink and Starshield. He thanked Rubio for his readiness to help and his clear position, and said they had agreed to speak again soon. He did not say whether anything had been resolved.

Patriots paid for, not signed

“We have almost no Patriot interceptors left from the US partners,” Zelenskyy told the senators.

Hegseth “has the contracts for Patriot missiles on his desk,” a Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent, adding that allies had already paid for them. Another senior official called the batch “significant.” One of the main channels for Ukraine’s Patriot supply is NATO’s PURL mechanism, under which allies fund purchases of US weapons for Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian military official told the outlet.

On 19 October, Zelenskyy wrote that some types of vital supplies were being delayed at the US Department of War, as the Trump administration also calls the Pentagon. He added that some political agreements had not been carried out at the working level.

Explore further

Musk pushed Trump to slow Starlink in Ukraine, weakening air defenses as Russian drones attacked cities – The Telegraph

A NATO official told the Kyiv Independent that PURL deliveries, including air defense, were continuing. Another said some shipments could face delays, but that political reasons were unlikely to explain them. A US government official called Ukraine’s claims “not true.” The Pentagon did not respond to the outlet.

No warning for Kyiv hours after Zelenskyy said US alerts were back

On 18 October, Zelenskyy said on NBC that US warnings of ballistic launches had resumed after three days without them. That night, Russia launched two ballistic waves at Ukraine, and information from partners did not arrive before the first, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said. Zelenskyy told the senators Ukraine had not received US warnings on three occasions in the past week. “We have received no clear explanation from Washington,” he said.

“All of this suggests that some political decision has been made to slow down support for us,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy offered a 30-day pause on refinery strikes for Patriots

Zelenskyy told the senators he had offered US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner a 30-day halt on strikes against Russian refineries. In return, the US would supply Patriot interceptors to cover that period. He said the envoys had shown no openness to the idea.

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Trump calls Ukraine’s renewed refinery strikes “a disgrace” after Russia’s 39-missile strike on its energy sites

On 20 October, Norway announced talks in Oslo that day between Zelenskyy, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, with Witkoff attending in person and Kushner by video.

Senators back Kyiv. Trump says intelligence still flows

Senator Thom Tillis said he and his colleagues remain committed to standing with Ukraine and its European allies, while Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote that bipartisan support was “clear and unequivocal” and would be expressed “in upcoming action.”

US President Donald Trump told reporters on 19 October that Washington is still sharing intelligence with Ukraine and that he did not know who ordered the throttling of Starlink, Axios reported.

“Zelensky doesn’t know what he is talking about,” Trump said.

Zelenskyy’s urgent discussion with the US Secretary of State suggests that Washington cannot pursue accommodation with Moscow without confronting opposition in Congress, the requirements of American national security and Ukraine’s continuing dependence on US military support.

The telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday, 20 October, has exposed an increasingly uncomfortable contradiction in American policy towards Russia. While President Donald Trump is easing economic pressure on Moscow and attempting to restrain Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, senior members of his administration are having to address the consequences for Ukraine’s defence.

Zelenskyy raised three immediate concerns: the availability of Patriot interceptor missiles, interruptions to American early-warning intelligence concerning Russian ballistic attacks, and restrictions affecting Starlink and Starshield satellite communications. He described the discussion as constructive, expressing appreciation for Rubio’s willingness to help.

The significance lies less in the diplomatic language than in the circumstances surrounding the call. Washington is attempting to obtain concessions from Moscow while several of its own decisions have weakened confidence in the security arrangements on which Kyiv depends. Rubio’s involvement suggests that these difficulties cannot simply be left unresolved while Trump’s envoys pursue another round of negotiations.

The political cost of concessions to Moscow

Trump’s recent decisions concerning Russian energy exports have brought an existing disagreement over Ukraine into American domestic politics.

The administration has facilitated Russian diesel exports and waived new sanctions under the Graham Act, legislation intended to increase pressure on Russia and its principal energy customers. Rubio has said the president will use a 60-day period to assess the economic consequences of implementing the measures.

For Trump, the immediate attraction is apparent. Rising fuel prices have become a political liability ahead of the 3 November congressional midterm elections. Increasing supplies on international markets offers the administration a potential means of relieving pressure on American consumers.

The difficulty is that concessions to Vladimir Putin carry their own electoral consequences. Moscow remains deeply unpopular among substantial sections of the American political establishment, including Republicans who regard support for Ukraine as a matter of American strategic interest.

That opposition is no longer confined to public criticism. Republican senators have joined Democrats in challenging decisions affecting Ukraine’s military capabilities, creating an additional problem for an administration already facing a difficult electoral environment.

Trump can justify Russian energy concessions as an attempt to protect American consumers. Explaining why Ukraine should simultaneously experience interruptions to critical defence systems is considerably more difficult.

Rubio and the machinery of American foreign policy

Rubio’s position within the administration is particularly important. As both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, he occupies two offices central to the formulation and execution of American foreign policy.

His conversation with Zelenskyy took place during a diplomatic tour of Uzbekistan and India, demonstrating that the deterioration in relations with Kyiv required attention even while the administration was pursuing other international priorities.

It would be premature to interpret Rubio’s intervention as evidence of an independent foreign policy. There is no indication that he is acting against Trump’s instructions. The more plausible interpretation is that the administration recognises a need to contain the consequences of its recent decisions without requiring the president publicly to reverse his position.

The controversy surrounding Starshield is particularly revealing. Reuters reported that instructions to restrict the satellite service used by Ukrainian forces originated inside the White House. The officials cited did not identify who authorised the order, while the administration has denied Trump’s personal involvement.

Separately, Zelenskyy has reported failures to receive advance warnings of Russian ballistic attacks. The cause of those interruptions remains disputed.

These developments have already attracted congressional scrutiny. Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen led a bipartisan request for an investigation, warning that failures in communications and intelligence-sharing may have endangered American personnel in Ukraine.

Congress cannot directly manage the administration’s foreign policy. Nevertheless, its powers over expenditure, legislation and oversight make sustained opposition politically consequential, particularly when members of the president’s own party are involved.

Ukraine needs military assistance, not diplomatic promises

The immediate requirements in Kyiv are considerably more specific than the objectives being discussed in Washington’s diplomatic negotiations.

Ukraine needs reliable satellite communications, uninterrupted intelligence concerning incoming missiles and sufficient Patriot interceptors to defend its cities and critical infrastructure. Delays in any of these areas have consequences that cannot be addressed through declarations about a future peace settlement.

The shortage of Patriot missiles is particularly serious. Zelenskyy has complained that American authorisation is delaying deliveries under arrangements financed by European governments. Washington’s commitments elsewhere, including the Middle East, add further pressure to American air-defence inventories.

Meanwhile, preparations for new negotiations in Oslo involving American envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner continue. The involvement of European leaders may broaden the diplomatic discussion, but it does not resolve the central obstacle: Putin has offered no convincing indication that he is prepared to end the invasion on terms acceptable to Ukraine.

Proposals concerning Ukrainian elections, NATO membership or alternative negotiating arrangements remain subordinate to that problem. Without a ceasefire that can be enforced, even an agreement on the political framework for peace would leave fundamental questions of security unanswered.

The limits of presidential power

Trump retains substantial authority over American sanctions, military assistance and diplomatic engagement. Yet his ability to offer Moscow meaningful concessions is constrained by several factors beyond his immediate control.

Congress can challenge further attempts to weaken sanctions or restrict assistance. European governments maintain their own sanctions regimes and are not obliged to follow Washington’s approach. Ukraine retains considerable military capacity, including the ability to attack Russian energy facilities that contribute to financing the war.

Nor can the American president compel Putin to accept a settlement. If Russia calculates that continuing military operations offers greater advantages than negotiations, additional concessions from Washington may encourage Moscow to prolong the conflict rather than end it.

Rubio’s conversation with Zelenskyy therefore suggests that the administration is being forced to confront the practical consequences of its policy. An American president may seek improved relations with Moscow, but the institutional interests of the United States do not necessarily change with his personal diplomatic priorities.

For Kyiv, the question is whether those interests will translate into the continued supply of weapons, intelligence and communications support. Russia’s attacks will continue irrespective of the timetable established for American diplomatic initiatives.

Reports that SpaceX temporarily restricted its satellite internet service for Ukraine’s armed forces have generated serious concern in Kyiv and among the country’s allies. SpaceX operates the civilian Starlink system and its lesser-known military-grade counterpart, called Starshield. But many news stories leave an important question unanswered: what does a Starshield “slowdown” mean on the battlefield? […]

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