In brief

• US Senate Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Coons asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to preserve documents on restrictions on Ukraine's use of Starlink and Starshield.
• The letter cites service interruptions from October 13 to 24 and on November 12 that could have hampered Ukrainian military operations.
• SpaceX has until November 30 to confirm document preservation and answer the senators' questions.

Senators demand records be kept

Senate Democrats Jeanne Shaheen and Chris Coons have written to Elon Musk and SpaceX asking the company to preserve all documents and correspondence about restrictions placed on Ukraine's use of Starlink and Starshield satellite services (Демократы обязали Маска сохранить документы о доступе Украины к Starlink – Charter 97) (Сенатори запросили у Маска всі документи про роботу Starshield в Україні, - Reuters – UNIAN) (Сенаторы США требуют от Маска сохранить документы об ограничениях Starlink для Украины — WSJ – NV). The Wall Street Journal first reported the letter, which was dated November 13.

Disruptions during fighting

The senators point to service interruptions from October 13 to 24 and another on November 12. They argue these outages could have hampered Ukrainian military operations at a time of active fighting (Маска зобов’язали зберегти документи про обмеження Starlink для ЗСУ: сенатори почнуть розслідування – TSN).

What the senators want

The letter asks for documents and communications dating from September 1, including exchanges between Musk, SpaceX leadership, the White House and the Pentagon. The senators also want to know who made the decisions to restrict service and whether officials outside SpaceX were involved. They have criticized the lack of transparency in how these choices were made and warned that reliance on privately owned satellite infrastructure creates risks for Ukraine and the US government.

Deadline and next steps

SpaceX must confirm in writing by November 30 that it has taken proper steps to preserve the documentation, and answer the senators' specific questions by the same date. The request is framed as a demand for records and answers within an oversight process, and the senators have raised the matter for further scrutiny.

Source accounts

Several Ukrainian and Russian-language outlets carried the story on November 14, drawing on the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reporting.