Breaking News · October 23, 2026, 2:48 AM CDT
As reported by NBC News:
President Donald Trump said Thursday that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had restored Ukraine’s Starlink access but declined to comment when asked whether he had spoken to the billionaire about the matter.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Thursday that Trump had called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starlink.
“I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn’t make any difference, I guess. The bottom line — he put it back,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he spoke to Musk.
Trump did not elaborate further. Ukraine uses Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations.[1]
Video: CBS News, October 22, 2026 — “Rep. Dan Crenshaw calls for restoration of Ukraine's SpaceX satellite access”. Matched to this story by shared names and terms in its title; watch the original for full context.
Where It Happened
The pin marks Washington as named in the report, not an exact address. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
On the record
We haven't made any directives or anything like that," Hegseth told reporters, adding that "we wish the Ukrainians, obviously, success." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office told CBS News on Wednesday that Ukraine's use of the system was still throttled.[2]
How 5 outlets are reporting it
- Trump Asked Musk to Reverse Limits on Ukraine’s Military Internet Use (The New York Times)
- Exclusive | Musk Ordered Starlink Slowdown That Blindsided Ukraine (WSJ)
- Trump says Elon Musk restored Ukraine’s Starlink access but declines to say whether they spoke (NBC News)
- Musk chose to restrict Ukraine's access to SpaceX satellite network, sources say (CBS News)
- Elon Musk is war’s new power broker (The Boston Globe)
What CBS News reports
A decision by Elon Musk led to restrictions on Ukraine's use of SpaceX's satellite communications network, people familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The satellite service, which is used for drone operations, hitting certain targets and protecting sites in Ukraine, was slowed significantly last week. Musk held multiple conversations with administration officials leading up to the order, the sources said.[2]
What is not yet confirmed
- Trump has denied being involved in the decision concerning the slowdown.[1]
What the official record says
the Senate site (blumenthal) says, in its own words:
The Senators’ letter comes after both Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied their involvement in restricting Ukraine’s connectivity to these critical battlefield technologies.[3]
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says, in its own words:
The Senators’ letter comes after both Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk denied their involvement in restricting Ukraine’s connectivity to these critical battlefield technologies.[4]
How to Verify This Yourself
Each headline above links to that outlet’s own report. The quoted passages come from the first two of those reports that could be retrieved in full.
References
- NBC News. Trump says Elon Musk restored Ukraine’s Starlink access but declines to say whether they spoke. ↩
- CBS News. Musk chose to restrict Ukraine's access to SpaceX satellite network, sources say. ↩
- the Senate site (blumenthal). [2026-10-19] Blumenthal, Whitehouse, Shaheen, & Coons Demand Answers… Primary (official source) ↩
- the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. [2026-10-19] Shaheen, Blumenthal, Whitehouse, and Coons Demand Answers… Primary (official source) ↩
Investigative methodology: this story was selected because 5 separate news organizations were reporting it at the same time. The quoted text is verbatim from the cited reports; nothing is paraphrased or added. Produced by scripts/breaking_news_monitor.py, not a language model.
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