The letter, obtained by the Journal, cites two periods of outages that the senators say hampered Ukrainian military operations: October 13-24 and November 12. It demands that SpaceX preserve its correspondence about Starlink and Starshield in Ukraine from September 1 onward, including messages between Musk and company executives and the White House and the Pentagon.
The lawmakers also asked whether anyone outside SpaceX authorized the restrictions. Musk is required to confirm compliance and answer the questions by November 30.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on November 12 that Starshield speeds had been restricted in occupied areas of Ukraine and along the entire front line. Speaking at the European Political Community summit, he said that if someone in America is making decisions that treat Ukrainian territory as not belonging to Ukraine, that shows where things are heading.
SpaceX denies that any restrictions were imposed on Ukraine's access to its systems this week. In October, Musk said the restrictions had been imposed on Donald Trump's instructions. Trump rejected this, saying it was not him and, in his view, not Musk. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called claims that the White House ordered the outages categorically false.
The WSJ reported that Musk personally ordered Starlink to be slowed in October, but that Trump later called him and asked him to reverse the decision. According to the newspaper's sources, service was restored on October 24 after that call.
Democrats will hold a majority in both chambers of Congress in January and plan to launch a series of investigations into the administration's actions over the war in Ukraine after that. Coons is expected to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Starshield is the military version of the Starlink satellite communications service. Overnight on October 14, speed restrictions were imposed on Starlink terminals while in motion. Serhiy Beskrestnov, an unpaid adviser to the Ukrainian president on technology, wrote on Telegram that the restriction applied to the military StarShield service package and was set at 100 miles per hour (about 161 km/h), and that the Defense Forces had received no warning, which disrupted a number of missions.
Accounts differ: the Democratic senators' letter points to Starlink and Starshield outages in Ukraine on October 13-24 and November 12 and attributes them to speed restrictions on the services; SpaceX says no restrictions were imposed this week. Musk said in October that the restrictions were on Trump's instructions; Trump denies this, and Secretary of State Rubio calls claims of a White House order categorically false. The WSJ, citing sources, reports that Musk personally ordered Starlink to be slowed and that the restrictions were lifted after Trump's call.