Lawmakers call for Musk probe over Starlink slowdown in Ukraine as row crosses the Atlantic

US lawmakers are demanding an investigation after the Wall Street Journal reported Elon Musk personally ordered last week’s Starshield speed caps.

Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, told CNN Congress should investigate and put Musk and other witnesses under oath. Senator Adam Schiff demanded a Senate investigation and Musk testimony under oath on X: “National security decisions should be made in our national security interests, and not based on the personal whim of an unstable executive.”

Senator Chris Coons told MSNOW Congress should ask “hard questions” about one man having “the same power of one of our four-star generals”.

The caps followed Musk and President Trump’s anger at Ukraine’s strikes on Russian diesel refineries, the Journal said, and the two discussed it in a call after the slowdown became public. Musk posted on X — his claim — that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”. Trump told reporters Monday he did not know who was responsible: “but I would like to find out.” SpaceX sought coordinated messaging with White House counterparts.

At PMQs, Ed Davey quoted reports Musk had directly advised Trump to throttle the network, calling it “beyond the pale”. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Of course I have concerns about any move that diminishes the military capability of Ukraine.”

On Monday, six Ukrainian drones targeted a Russian warehouse: above 100 mph the video feed cut out, four reached the target’s vicinity, one hit it, and pilots lost contact with the rest.

Sources: WSJ — lawmakers’ probe, WSJ — Musk ordered slowdown, WSJ — battlefield impact, The Times — PMQs live