2026-10-20T17:20:52.313Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/starshield-ukraine-elon-musk
那么，究竟是谁放慢了乌克兰使用的关键卫星通信系统，导致该国近日在俄罗斯的攻势面前更加脆弱？
就连一些共和党核心人士也要求给出答案，并承诺将追究相关责任人的后果。
但特朗普政府及其核心盟友埃隆·马斯克迄今给出的回应混乱、不完整，有时甚至自相矛盾。
特朗普政府已撇清责任，但此次服务中断恰逢特朗普在俄乌长期战争中大幅转向疏远乌克兰、亲近俄罗斯之际。而马斯克上周似乎多次将矛头指向特朗普。
这场争议始于一周前，乌克兰指责马斯克的太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）突然限制其星链（Starlink）互联网服务，严重阻碍了乌军防御。星链依靠低轨卫星提供网络，乌克兰一直使用星链及其相关军用级服务星盾（Starshield）实现快速通信，以及发起和拦截无人机袭击。
（乌克兰还指责特朗普政府限制其共享有关俄罗斯即将发动袭击的情报——美国政府否认了这一指控。）
乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基将矛头指向了特朗普政府。
路透社周四援引匿名消息人士报道称，白宫曾向美国国防部发令，要求放慢星盾系统的运行。CNN尚未证实这一报道。多位消息人士告诉CNN，该指令并非来自特朗普，特朗普本人也否认与此事有关。
泽连斯基在周日接受NBC《与媒体见面》节目采访时直指白宫。他表示：“指令当然来自政府”，同时补充说，SpaceX执行了该命令。
次日，泽连斯基试图强调这种限制造成的代价，他在社交媒体上发布了据称是被俄罗斯“沙赫德”无人机炸死的人员相关内容。
而马斯克周三似乎也将矛头指向了美国政府。在X平台上回应乌克兰前国防部长时，马斯克强调星盾“归美国政府所有并受其管控”。
“任何关于速度或使用的限制都由美国军方决定，最终由美国总统（POTUS）拍板，”马斯克说道。
当另一位X用户在一系列声明中称“星盾受美国政府管控。正是他们昨晚下达了指令”时，马斯克回应道：“没错。”
（SpaceX未回应CNN关于马斯克是否明确证实特朗普及其政府应为星盾服务减速负责的提问。而他的言论似乎留有回旋余地，这一点我们稍后展开。）
但特朗普政府否认参与其中，甚至有时还质疑是否真的发生了服务中断。
特朗普周五直言不讳地表示：“我没做过这事。”他补充道：“我不知道是不是其他人干的，因为不是我，而且我也不认为是埃隆干的。”
周六，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥称泽连斯基“不知自己在说什么”，并将有关白宫在星链中断事件中扮演角色的报道斥为“绝对虚假”。
“这与白宫毫无关系，”卢比奥说道，他还补充：“白宫没有任何人下令放慢互联网速度或降低网速，导致某些无人机无法使用相关服务。”
特朗普周一暗示，他仍然不知道谁该为此负责。
“我不知道是谁，但我希望查清楚，”他说。
但其中一些言论很难自洽。
特朗普周五似乎还质疑是否真的发生了服务减速。他称自己“甚至不认为网速被放慢了”，还表示“我觉得它可能和往常一样正常运行”。
“他们说网速和以前一模一样，”特朗普补充道。
卢比奥周五还声称，星盾——也就是星链的军用版——“目前尚未向乌克兰提供”，且“与乌克兰无关”。但彭博社两年前曾报道称，乌克兰已获得星盾服务权限。周一在乌兹别克斯坦，卢比奥证实“乌克兰已从中受益”。
马斯克的言论也有些令人费解。虽然他似乎将星盾的相关决策归咎于政府和特朗普，但他补充称，民用版星链“不能用于进攻性军事行动，因为商业公司这样做不合适”。这也可能被解读为暗示乌克兰对星链的使用存在争议。
此外，两名美国高级官员告诉CNN，星盾的指令并非来自特朗普。
值得强调的是，这一事件并非孤立发生。当前有诸多迹象表明特朗普正在疏远乌克兰，愈发亲近俄罗斯。
特朗普开始将柴油价格高企归咎于乌克兰袭击俄罗斯炼油厂（尽管有充分证据表明，伊朗局势是油价上涨的主要元凶）。他最近还推迟了对俄罗斯的重大新制裁。他曾试图进口俄罗斯柴油，同时向乌克兰施压，要求其向莫斯科做出更多让步以结束这场由俄罗斯2022年无端入侵引发的战争。
这场星链争议爆发之际，乌克兰也指责特朗普政府 withholding 重要情报共享。尽管CNN此前曾报道特朗普政府威胁过要这么做，但特朗普政府否认了这一指控。
考虑到这位SpaceX首席执行官是特朗普的主要盟友，也是中期选举中共和党最大的金主，马斯克至少将矛头指向特朗普的举动格外引人注目。他已为共和党花费了数亿美元。
马斯克本可以只说星盾的速度决策由联邦政府决定，但他继续补充道：“最终由美国总统拍板。”随后他还转发了那条“没错”的帖子。
在一片混乱之中，一些国会共和党人要求给出答案。
他们包括即将退休的内布拉斯加州众议员唐·培根，以及处境岌岌可危的宾夕法尼亚州众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克。菲茨帕特里克周一在X平台上发誓，那些限制星盾服务的人“将被全面调查，并被彻底追责”。他还承诺将举行国会听证会，并“对任何负有责任的机构或机构负责人立即实施严厉的预算削减惩罚”。
即将卸任的北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯和德克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁也已与民主党人一道要求追责，蒂利斯称这要么是“不可接受的失误或疏忽”，要么是蓄意“为俄罗斯进攻扫清障碍”。
答案可能不会很快揭晓，但如果明年1月民主党控制国会参众两院中的一院或两院，这场争议可能会再次浮出水面。
更正： 本文已更新，纠正了众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克的名字拼写。
The big questions about who’s to blame for Starshield disruptions in Ukraine
2026-10-20T17:20:52.313Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/20/politics/starshield-ukraine-elon-musk
So, who slowed down a crucial satellite communications system used by Ukraine, making the country more vulnerable to Russian attacks in recent days?
Even some key Republicans are demanding answers and promising consequences for those responsible.
But the Trump administration and its top ally, Elon Musk, have so far offered a confusing, incomplete and sometimes contradictory set of answers.
The administration has disowned responsibility, but the disruption came right as Trump sharply turned away from Ukraine and toward Russia in its yearslong war. And Musk seemed to repeatedly point the finger toward Trump last week.
The controversy began a week ago when Ukraine accused Musk’s SpaceX of severely hindering its defense by suddenly limiting its Starlink internet service, which uses satellites in low orbit. Ukraine has used Starlink and a related military-grade service, Starshield, to communicate quickly and to both launch and prevent drone attacks.
(Ukraine has also accused the Trump administration of limiting intelligence-sharing about impending Russian attacks — a charge the US government denies.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pointed at the Trump administration.
Reuters also reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources, that the White House sent a message to the Defense Department to slow down the Starshield system. CNN has not confirmed that reporting. Multiple sources told CNN that the direction didn’t come from Trump, who also denied being involved.
Zelensky pointed at the White House during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. He said: “Of course the message came from government,” while adding that SpaceX carried out the order.
The next day, Zelensky sought to emphasize the price of such limitations by posting he said was killed by a Russian Shahed drone.
And Musk also seemed to gesture in the US government’s direction on Wednesday. Responding to Ukraine’s former defense minister on X, Musk emphasized that Starshield was “owned and controlled by the US government.”
“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk said.
When another X user claimed, alongside a series of claims, that “Starshield is under U.S. government control. That is who made last night’s call,” Musk responded: “True.”
(SpaceX has not responded to a question from CNN about whether Musk was explicitly confirming Trump and his administration were responsible for the Starshield slowdown. And his comments could seemingly have some wiggle room, which we’ll get to.)
But the Trump administration has denied involvement and even at times questioned whether there was a disruption.
Trump said flatly on Friday, “I didn’t do that.” He added: “I don’t know if it was anybody, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.”
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Zelensky didn’t know “what he’s talking about” and called reports of a White House role in the Starlink disruptions “categorically false.”
“Nothing to do with the White House,” Rubio said, adding: “No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn’t use it.”
Trump signaled Monday that he still didn’t know who was responsible.
“I don’t know who it was, but I’d like to find out,” he said.
But some of these comments are difficult to reconcile.
Trump on Friday also seemed to question whether there even was a slowdown. He said he didn’t “even think it was slowed down,” and that “I think it’s probably functioning.”
“They say it’s the same as it always has been,” Trump added.
Rubio in his comments Friday also claimed that Starshield — which is, again, the military-grade version of Starlink — was “not at this moment available to Ukraine” and “has nothing to do with Ukraine.” But Bloomberg reported two years ago that Ukraine had been given access to Starshield. And in comments Monday in Uzbekistan, Rubio confirmed that “Ukraine has benefited from it.”
Musk’s comments are also somewhat confusing. While he seemed to point at the administration and Trump for any Starshield decisions, he added that Starlink — the civilian version — “cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.” That could be read to suggest there was a dispute about Ukraine’s use of Starlink, as well.
Also, two senior US officials have told CNN that the Starshield order did not come from Trump.
It’s worth emphasizing that this episode didn’t happen in a vacuum. It comes amid multiple signs of Trump moving away from Ukraine and increasingly cozying up to Russia.
Trump has taken to blaming Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries for high diesel prices (despite compelling evidence that the Iran war is the main culprit for the prices). He has also recently delayed major new sanctions on Russia. And he sought to import Russian diesel, while upping the pressure on Ukraine to concede more to Moscow to end the war, which began with Russia’s unprovoked invasion in 2022.
The Starlink controversy also comes as Ukraine has accused the administration of withholding vital intelligence-sharing. That’s another charge the Trump administration denies, despite CNN having previously reported that it threatened to do just that.
Musk’s decision to at least gesture toward Trump is also extremely notable, given the SpaceX CEO is a major Trump ally and the biggest benefactor of Trump’s political party in the midterm elections. He’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars for the Republican Party.
Musk could have said Starshield speed decisions are decided by the federal government and stopped there. But he continued by saying, “and ultimately POTUS.” And then he also did the “True” post.
Amid the confusion, some congressional Republicans are demanding answers.
They include retiring Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska and vulnerable Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Fitzpatrick vowed Monday on X that those limiting Starshield “will be fully investigated and will be held fully accountable.” He also promised congressional hearings and “immediate harsh and punitive budget cuts to any responsible agency or agency head.”
Outgoing Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas have also joined with Democrats to demand accountability, with Tillis calling it either “an unacceptable error or lapse” or a conscious “decision to clear the field for a Russian attack.”
Answers may not be imminent, but this controversy could return to the fore should Democrats control one or both chambers of Congress come January.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s first name.
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