EXCLUSIVE: Order to limit Starshield for Ukraine came from inside White House, sources say

According to Reuters, leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed.[1] Reuters said the officials did not specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order.[1]A senior US official told Reuters: "No such request was ever made by the president."[1] Reuters reports that the White House did not respond to questions about whether other administration officials might have made the request.[1]A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Kyiv called the White House, State Department and Pentagon, and was told it was a White House decision.[1]Kyiv Post reports that the restrictions disrupted Ukrainian strike missions and slowed interceptor drones used to protect cities from Russian Shahed attacks[2]. Ukrainska Pravda reports that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly described the communications restrictions as a mistake that would lead to casualties and destruction.[3]Elon Musk wrote on X, as quoted by Kyiv Post, that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS"[2].Reuters reports that the restriction came as President Donald Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian refineries[1]. A Ukrainian Defence Ministry source told Reuters the receptors were now working when in motion, but only at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour[1]. Axios, by contrast, cited a Ukrainian official as saying service was "restored to full capacity."[4]