Politics

President Trump uses $54 billion LNG pipeline investment as campaign pitch for Sen. Sullivan

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Sitting behind the resolute desk, President Donald Trump announced $54 billion is coming from South Korea to Alaska’s proposed LNG pipeline project, using it as a pitch to Alaskans to re-elect Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The incumbent senator, wearing a blue tie with Alaska’s eight gold stars, stood directly behind the president.
“This is a great senator who is totally responsible for this pipeline,” Trump said. “This is a man that worked with me by shoulder to shoulder.
“He’s running for office. He’s a spectacular senator, not just for Alaska, he’s great for the world, for our country and the world. What he’s done is so important and he’s got my ear.
“He’s had my ear for a long time on Alaska.”
Members of Trump’s cabinet were also relieved by the deal, jokingly saying they would hear less from Sullivan with the investment.
Alaska’s junior senator — whose been in office for over a decade — is locked in a contentious race against former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a race national pollsters have as a toss-up.
In a prepared statement, Peltola told Alaska’s News Source she, too, has played a role in making the gas line happen, citing work done during her time in the Alaska Legislature and Congress.
“Today’s announcement is great news for Alaska, and I appreciate President Trump’s work to unleash Alaska energy,” she said in the statement. “I look forward to continuing this bipartisan work with the President as Alaska’s next United States Senator.
“I will continue to champion the Alaska LNG project in the United States Senate so that we can create good paying Alaska jobs and drive down energy costs for families across the state.”
Trump did not mention Peltola by name at the Wednesday press conference, but in a video endorsing Sullivan, called her a “radical left lunatic.”
In an interview with Alaska’s News Source, she called the Trump administration’s impact on Alaska a “mixed bag.”
Near the end of the conference, Trump said the Alaskans not knowing “how good” Sullivan is for the state is why it’s a toss-up.
“If people knew how good Senator Daniel Sullivan was, there would be no race,” he said, answering a question from Gray White House Correspondent Jon Decker.
“If the people of Alaska knew what I know — and I know the real facts — there wouldn’t even be a race.”
The president plans to head to Alaska 30 days before the election to stump for Sen. Sullivan. When asked by a reporter Wednesday if he had a planned date to visit the state, he did not answer.
The announcement
“President Trump will announce major energy infrastructure investments that deliver on his day one promises to unleash American energy and unlock Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential,” White House Spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
The amount is enough to create the entire gas line, according to figures Glenfarne, the major developer of the project, announced in June.
When the president asked when the project will begin, Brendal Duval, Glenfarne CEO, said the project is three years from operation and five years from exports. Duval said at the end of January that construction would begin by December.
A White House official told Alaska’s News Source the investment is a portion of the $200 billion committed in the “US/Korea Trade and Investment Initiative” announced in November.
Alaska’s News Source reached out to a Glenfarne spokesperson for comment or interview Tuesday evening, which has not been returned as of publication.
Dunleavy, Sullivan, Duval and Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, stood behind the president, alongside several Trump cabinet members.
Rocky road remains
A critical issue centered in Alaska’s state legislature has not been resolved: property taxes.
Glenfarne said the company needs property taxes exemptions to make the project economic, an issue at the center of the entire legislative session and months of back-to-back special sessions called in by Dunleavy. Majority lawmakers have largely contested the exemptions the company wanted were too steep and they wouldn’t pay their fair share.
By the end of the second special session, about eight months after the legislative session began, lawmakers were the closest they’ve been to passing a plan. The bill included a desired property tax scheme for the gas line but also had a contested corporate income tax for privately held oil and gas companies classified as S-Corporations.
Though the tax did not affect the gas line, Dunleavy and Republican lawmakers called the S-Corp tax a “poison pill.” The Senate passed the bill 11-8, but the House failed by a single vote with House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, defecting from his caucus.
Even if that bill did pass, it was bound to die. The governor said in the middle of debate in the House that he would veto the bill if it landed on his desk, and lawmakers didn’t have the votes for an override.
Alaska’s governor tried at another special session, but state lawmakers were fed up.
After eight years of tension between his administration and the legislature, a record-setting number of vetoes in the latest session (including one veto created from a quid-pro-quo on the LNG issue: pass the property tax exemptions or lose the pension plan) and numerous special sessions preventing lawmakers from campaigning under state law, lawmakers said the governor lost the good will for a compromise — teeing the issue up to the next legislature and governor.
“I feel like the circumstances only get more difficult from here and unless the governor and Hilcorp are willing to reconsider the package, I think there’s very little appetite to deal with this this year,” Rep. Calvin Schrage, NA-Anchorage and chair of the final committee to draft a compromise plan, told Alaksa’s News Source in July. “This will have to be something to come back and deal with it in January.”
Dunleavy said “politics” killed the tax breaks.
“The project is fiscally challenged,” Dunleavy said in a news conference in the dying hours of the second special session. “Everyone admits that. But that’s not what’s standing in the way.
“What’s standing in the way is politics. Pure, unmitigated, simple politics.”
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said the governor was the one who was politicking.
“The governor was willing to trade the pension bill for the gas line, and we said no,” he said after the bill died.
“It was politics. It was just politics and we just said no.”
Dunleavy, Trump nor Duval mentioned anything about property tax relief during the Wednesday press conference.
Alaska’s News Source reached out to a Dunleavy spokesperson for an interview hours before the press conference began.
‘Shows you how dirty and disgusting the political game is’
Trump also mentioned Dan J. Sullivan, the Petersburg candidate with the same name as the incumbent senator, saying he was recruited by Democrats.
“It’s crooked as hell. I’ll say it,” Trump said. “I’ll say it. When they put up a man with his exact name, they picked him out of a hat. They said, ‘anybody named Dan Sullivan in Alaska?’ And they put somebody up against him because they know they can’t win without cheating.”
Evidence of direct coordination showing that the Petersburg Sullivan was recruited by a Democratic organization, something that continues to be reiterated by national Republican organizations and the president, is unclear.
Amber Lee, of Amber Lee Strategies, authored a press release for Petersburg’s Sullivan and has worked for several Democratic candidates for Anchorage and state legislative seats, according to her firm’s website. Lee has also publicly supported Peltola.
Lee is the “smoking gun” Republican organizations point to, saying there is a connection between the Petersburg Sullivan and a Democratic organization. She sits on the board of the 907 Initiative, an organization which has condemned Sen. Dan Sullivan and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson during his admin.
“907 Initiative had no involvement in Dan J Sullivan’s candidacy,” Aubrey Wieber, President of the 907 Initiative told Alaska’s News Source in September. “Amber is a board member but does not direct independent expenditure activity.”
This is a developing story. It has been updated with more information since originally published.

Politics

Elon Musk says Tesla’s Roadster demo could be a bang, quite literally

Elon Musk spent Wednesday and Thursday stacking teases on top of Tesla’s Roadster event, and the wording is getting harder to read as routine hype. Tesla streams the unveil tonight at 7:55 p.m. Central on X. Musk has called it “a candidate for greatest product demo of all time,” then added that “this demo will be a BANGER, probably metaphorically, though some chance literally.”
The “some chance literally” part is the line to watch. The Roadster has been tied to a SpaceX option package since 2018, and as we reported when the date was announced, the system is reportedly codenamed A71 and uses cold gas thrusters fed by a composite overwrapped pressure vessel, the same tank design SpaceX uses on Falcon 9. Musk has said a thruster equipped car could reach 60 mph in about 1.1 seconds. Cold gas thrusters firing at full output are loud, and reports ahead of the event say the car will be unmanned with spectators kept several hundred yards back. A literal bang could simply mean a demonstration that sounds like one, though it is also an admission that something could go wrong on stage.
Then there is “Timing is everything,” which Musk posted a day earlier. Stocktwits noted that 7:55 p.m. is 19:55 on a 24 hour clock, which echoes 1955, the year Marty McFly travels to in Back to the Future. Musk has made that connection before. In 2019 he replied to an animation of a flying DeLorean by saying the new Roadster “will actually do something like this.” Nothing from Tesla confirms the movie reference, but the stream time was chosen by someone, and Tesla has not been shy about this kind of wink.
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Also, Tesla said it moved the event because it “can only be held outdoors,” and Musk then wrote that the demo was postponed “due to high winds,” as Teslarati covered at the time. A car running a standing start in front of a crowd shrugs off wind. A car that leaves the ground does not. The venue near SpaceX’s McGregor test site and the FAA airspace closures reported around the original date point the same way, though we also noted the delay could be a plain safety precaution. Musk has also described the new Roadster as “beyond movies, beyond imagination, beyond human, yet still made by humans on Earth.”
The only official figures remain the 2017 ones: 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, a 1.9 second 0 to 60 time, and prices of $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for the Founders Series. Production is expected at Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028. Tesla has said the event will cover pricing, specifications and production targets, and its livestream preview has the full rundown. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, so whatever lands tonight will be fresh going into that call. We will have live coverage as soon as the stream starts.
Elon Musk said SpaceX will reimburse users if Grok Bot botches a purchase or leaks their card details. A few hours later he was telling users to take their shopping elsewhere after Amazon shut the agent out.
The first post was a reply to an X user who said Grok Bot booked him a flight after he sent a photo of his credit card. “This works well,” Musk wrote. “If Grok @Bot makes a mistake with a purchase or leaks your card (never happened yet), SpaceX will make you whole,” said Musk.
The second came after another user posted the error his Grok Bot hit on Amazon: “Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon’s Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed.” The user said his bots can no longer order from the site. Musk answered, “Just ask Grok @Bot to buy what you want someplace else and get a better deal. There are far more purchasing websites than just Amazon!” He later added, “Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon,” a possible hint at an X shopping service.
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The Amazon block did not start Thursday. A reply to Musk on October 10 said Amazon was blocking the bot, and Musk responded that Grok would find another way, then showed an order it placed on Lego’s website.
The latest reimbursement promise builds on late August when Musk told a Tesla investor weighing whether to give Grok Bot access to his bank accounts, “If Grok Bot messes up, we will make you whole,” as Teslarati covered when SpaceXAI added its Finance integration. That promise goes further than the company’s consumer terms, which make users responsible for what their agents do and generally cap liability at the greater of fees paid or $100. Neither Thursday post says those terms have changed, so for now it remains a statement on X rather than a published policy.
The two posts matter to Tesla owners because Grok Bot is no longer limited to a phone. Tesla brought it into its vehicles on September 22, and it is now enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet, as noted when Teslarati looked at why Grok Bot may be the Cybercab’s real advantage. A rider who asks for groceries or a coffee order is relying on retailers that let the agent in. Amazon has now said it will not, and Musk’s answer is to route around it.
Amazon has not commented publicly on the block in the posts Teslarati reviewed, and it is unclear whether Musk will follow through on a rival store.
So, how many of you do the vast majority of shopping on Amazon and hate that you do? Let us know how you feel about an Amazon alternative in our Facebook post.
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Elon Musk says the speed limit cutting out Ukraine’s military Starlink terminals is not SpaceX’s decision. In a post on X Wednesday, Musk wrote that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” He added that Starlink is a commercial service limited to civilian or defensive activities and “cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”
He was replying to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defense minister, who had thanked Musk for restoring connectivity at speeds up to 160 km/h and said removing the Starshield limit entirely is “now critical for Ukraine’s defense.”
The complaint started Tuesday night, when Ukrainian officials said military terminals began losing service above roughly 100 mph. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said the defense forces got no warning and several missions were disrupted, as Teslarati reported earlier Wednesday. The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps told Reuters connections dropped for 10 to 20 seconds at speeds well below the limit, which made drones harder to control. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, asked Musk on X whether he is “playing politics with your products again.”
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That is why the Starlink and Starshield distinction matters. SpaceX introduced Starshield in 2022 as the government version of Starlink, with an initial focus on Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads. It won a Space Force contract in 2023 with a $70 million ceiling. In December 2024, the Pentagon moved Ukraine’s terminals onto Starshield, covering about 3,000 units across two contracts. Ukraine’s military connections therefore run through a service that Musk now says sits under Washington’s control.
SpaceX pitches subscription model for Trump’s Golden Dome
While Musk’s post describes who holds authority, it does not infer that anyone ordered the limit, and neither SpaceX nor the US government has confirmed who set it. Ukrainian officials have pointed to the timing, which follows President Trump’s push for an energy ceasefire and Musk’s Saturday post that “Zelensky has gone too far.” The BBC noted Trump denied threatening to restrict intelligence sharing with Kyiv, and no evidence has been presented that Washington requested the cap.
The episode also revives a promise from 2025. After Poland accused him of threatening Ukraine’s access, Musk said Starlink “will never turn off its terminals” and would not be used as a bargaining chip. Poland has since supplied more than 29,000 terminals to Ukraine. Teslarati also covered Kyiv’s search for Starlink alternatives in 2025, and the latest dispute gives that search new urgency.
Ukrainian officials are accusing SpaceX of placing a speed limit on the military version of Starlink that their forces use to fly drones, but SpaceX has not confirmed that any change was made. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Starshield terminals have begun losing service when they move faster than about 100 miles per hour, according to a Reuters report. “Our defense forces did not receive a warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions,” he wrote.
Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps told Reuters that connections dropped for 10 to 20 seconds at just 68 to 75 mph, which made the drones harder to control. Volunteer Serhiy Sternenko, citing military reports, said the dropouts are now starting at 37 to 43 mph. These accounts come from Ukrainian officials and military sources and have not been independently verified. Regular civilian terminals were reportedly not affected, according to EUalive.
SpaceX has not publicly commented or explained what, if anything, changed. Beskrestnov and other Ukrainian officials believe the issue is intentional and point to the timing. Washington has been pressing Kyiv to stop long range strikes on Russian oil refineries after President Trump called for an “energy ceasefire,” and Musk posted on Saturday that “Zelensky has gone too far.” EUalive noted that neither Ukrainian nor Polish officials have presented evidence that the limit was ordered by Washington or by SpaceX, so the link to politics remains an allegation. Other explanations, such as a technical or policy change affecting fast moving terminals, have not been ruled out.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, responded on X by quote tweeting a Kyiv Independent report and writing: “Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you.” Poland is the largest funder of Ukraine’s Starlink service, having supplied more than 29,000 terminals and covering operating costs Sikorski has put at roughly $50 million a year. The wording echoes their 2025 clash, when Musk told Sikorski to “be quiet, small man.” At the time of writing, neither Musk nor SpaceX had responded to the claims.
The dispute sits on top of a long history. Musk confirmed in February 2022 that Starlink was active in Ukraine after a request from a Ukrainian minister. That October, SpaceX asked the Pentagon to share the bill and Musk said the cost was approaching $20 million a month, before he reversed course and said SpaceX would keep paying. In December 2024 the Pentagon moved some of those terminals onto the Starshield service, the government version now at the center of the complaints.
SpaceX has also changed how its network treats certain terminals in Ukraine before, and that time it was with Kyiv’s cooperation. In February, Ukrainian officials confirmed that terminals believed to be used by Russian troops were disabled after coordination with SpaceX, a step that Ukrainian commanders later said hurt Russian assaults. Whether anything similar is behind the latest reports is unclear, which is why Kyiv is asking for answers.
Ukraine is already looking at backups. Defense tech company Stetman is developing its own satellite system, UASAT-NANO, and officials in Europe have discussed alternatives to Starlink since early 2025, though none match its scale yet.

Politics

Donald Trump claims ‘Iran war will end very soon’ as midterm rallies heat up – US politics live

Donald Trump claims Iran war ‘will end very soon’
US president Donald Trump claimed the Iran war ‘will end very soon,’ as voters consider their options ahead of midterm elections that are taking place amid economic uncertainty and ongoing global conflict.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Trump said: “The Iran war will end very soon. It’s going to end very soon, as soon as I want it to end, it’ll end.” He added that Iran would “never have a nuclear weapon” and that oil prices would “drop like a rock”.
The US president has in recent weeks attempted to shift focus towards Ukraine, and has suggested that its attack on Russian refineries are responsible for rising fuel prices. His renewed messaging on Iran suggests that the price of daily goods – and gas at the tank – are having an impact at the polls.
Voting groups that are key to winning votes in the midterms are increasingly disenchanted with the economy, according to an exclusive Harris poll for the Guardian. Three in four Americans are now concerned about the potential for a recession.
Elsewhere:
James Talarico, the Texas Democratic nominee for Senate, faced a grilling from undecided voters on a range of issues from Gaza to his faith at a town hall. Something he emphasized was his aspiration to put residents above party allegiance.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he felt ‘betrayed’ by the US after Ukraine’s military access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite was restricted. The US president has denied that the administration has cut intelligence sharing but Musk suggested on X that the US government was behind the restrictions.
Trump’s new press secretary Katie Zacharia is facing scrutiny over her claims that she’s a lawyer. Zacharia has clarified some of the questions but the big one remains: has she ever passed the bar?

Politics

Trump’s ambassadors: the loyalists and allies at the center of controversy

Kimberly Guilfoyle
Greece
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a conservative personality and former politician, began serving as the ambassador to Greece in November 2025. She stepped down from her role in October after allegations of corruption.
Guilfoyle was made ambassador to Greece shortly after the end of her engagement to Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son.
She was accused of misconduct while serving as ambassador, such as promoting the business interests of one particular Greek construction and energy company, inviting Greek lobbyists to sit in on official diplomatic meetings, and asking an ally to pay off her $100,000 American Express card before her Senate confirmation hearing.
Charles Kushner
France
Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Ivanka Trump and father of Jared Kushner, began serving as ambassador to France and Monaco in July 2025. He is a former attorney and real estate developer, as well as a Trump donor.
In February, Kushner was banned from a meeting with his counterparts after failing to show up for a summons regarding Kushner’s accusation that France allowed antisemitism and leftist extremism to run rampant.
Kushner was convicted of tax evasion, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and witness tampering. His conviction was later pardoned by Trump in 2020.
Bill White
Belgium
Bill White is the former president of the Intrepid museum. He began serving as the ambassador to Belgium in November 2025, after being nominated by Trump.
White has found himself in several public tiffs with Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot. In February, the foreign minister admonished White for accusing Belgium of antisemitism.
In August, the foreign minister scolded White for calling a Belgian official a “loser” on social media, though White denied doing so.
Pete Hoekstra
Canada
Pete Hoekstra, a former Republican congressman from Michigan, began serving as the ambassador to Canada in April 2025.
Trump’s contentious relationship with the US’s northern neighbor has put Hoekstra in the spotlight. Over the summer, more than 200,000 Canadians signed a petition to expel Hoekstra for normalizing Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state.
Hoekstra has taken an openly critical stance toward Canada, most recently warning Canadians not to “meddle” in US politics before November’s US midterm elections.
Billy Long
Iceland
William “Billy” Long, a former Republican congressman from Missouri and auctioneer, began serving as the ambassador to Iceland in August 2026.
Long previously served briefly as the internal revenue commissioner but was removed, reportedly due to internal clashes with the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent.
Earlier this year, Long was forced to apologize after joking that the US would make Iceland its 52nd state.
Tom Rose
Poland
Tom Rose, a former conservative political commentator and adviser to Mike Pence, began serving as ambassador to Poland in November 2025.
In February, Rose announced he would cut off communications with a Polish politician who serves as the speaker of the lower house in the Polish parliament over “insults” toward Trump.
In return, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, told Rose to “respect, not lecture” allies, which Rose rebuffed.
Kari Lake
Kari Lake, a longtime election denier and devout Trump ally, was tapped to serve as the ambassador to Jamaica in May 2026. Her nomination has not yet been confirmed.
Lake has a long history of promoting false claims of election fraud, including in her own races that she lost. More recently, she served in the administration as the head of Voice of America, a federally funded news group.
“Kari Lake is not the person for Jamaica,” Donald Tapia, who served as ambassador to Jamaica from 2019-2021, told the Miami Herald.
Luis Moreno, the ambassador to Jamaica from 2014 until 2017, told the Miami Herald that Lake was “not really a policy person”.
“It’s what we would call a lightweight appointment. I would expect lightweight efforts on her part, and what can I say? The Jamaican government will have to work with her because she’s an ambassador,” Moreno said.

Politics

Ukraine says new Starlink restrictions disrupt military amid intel gaps , Trump clash

Ukraine has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of undermining its ability to defend itself by limiting Starlink internet services, as the country reeled from intense Russian ballistic missile attacks that it said came without the usual advance warning from allies.
Facing pressure from President Donald Trump to halt strikes on Russia’s energy industry, Kyiv and its backers have worried Washington could cut off battlefield support to try and force it into concessions at the negotiating table.
Ukrainian officials and their European partners were already scrambling to understand the status of U.S. intelligence sharing after the lack of alert ahead of two Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv this week, two Ukrainian and two European officials told NBC News.
Trump insisted the U.S. was still sharing intel, but with relations spiraling Ukrainian officials and military units were on Wednesday accusing SpaceX of throttling a technology essential to their battlefield communications and drone operations.
It was not immediately clear what might be behind the Starlink interruptions, though some Ukrainian officials said the timing could not be a coincidence given that Musk is a close Trump ally.
The Ukrainian government has yet to receive a response from SpaceX, a Ukrainian official told NBC News, and Ukrainian units are already reporting issues with performance even at lower UAV speeds.
Asked about the importance of the technology, Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires to the U.S. Denys Sienik said Starshield is live saving. “The technology helps us save the lives of civilians and prevent more destructions in Ukraine caused by Russian side.”
Drone disruptions
SpaceX had introduced speed limits on the operation of its Starlink satellite internet terminals overnight, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s defense tech adviser, Serhii Beskrestnov.
“Our defence forces received no warning of such a restriction, and this led to the failure of a number of missions,” Beskrestnov said on Telegram. “It is obvious that this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation,” he added.
An army unit fighting in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said Wednesday it had been forced to cancel some planned operations.
The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps of the Ukrainian air assault forces said it began “noticing Starlink connectivity problems caused by data transfer speed limits” overnight, adding that the changes directly affected drones that use the service for in-flight control.
“The drones kept flying, but the interruptions made them harder to control,” it said in a statement.
Beskrestnov said that restrictions were specifically put on the operation of the military-grade version of Starlink at speeds above 100 mph.
Starlink was also key for Ukraine’s aerial defenses as it was used to intercept the jet-powered drones that Moscow has unleashed on Ukrainian cities in recent months, he added. Asked about the importance of the technology, Ukraine’s Charge d’Affaires to the U.S. Denys Sienik said “the technology helps us save the lives of civilians and prevent more destruction in Ukraine caused by the Russian side.”
Ukraine has reached out to the U.S. government and SpaceX for clarification on the rationale for the new restrictions but has yet to receive a response, according to a Ukrainian official.
Ukraine’s armed forces learned about the limitations from customer support after filing a complaint regarding operational issues, the official said, adding that SpaceX had not warned of the move.
Ukrainian military units were already reporting issues with drone performance at even lower speeds, the official added.
The White House, SpaceX and Starlink did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News.
The disruption follows days of mounting tensions between Kyiv and Washington, as Trump pushes to lower gas prices ahead of the midterm elections. Trump’s latest reversal in his bid to settle the war saw him stun Kyiv by striking a diesel deal with Russia that upended years of U.S. sanctions.
He then demanded that Ukraine stop attacking Russian oil refineries and called for Zelenskyy to be replaced. Trump also announced an “energy ceasefire” that neither warring side appears to have agreed to.
Kyiv said it had refrained from striking Russian energy targets to respect Trump’s wishes, but the Kremlin has continued to hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure in its annual effort to leave its neighbor in the freezing dark as winter sets in.
Intel uncertainty
Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Ukraine had not received any early warning from its partners about “a particularly vile ballistic missile strike on Kyiv” a day earlier. Explosions rang out before an alert was issued, according to an NBC News producer in the capital.
“Intelligence on Russian ballistic missile launches helps save lives, and this is one of the most critical issues,” Zelenskyy said, without singling out the U.S.
Later Tuesday, he reported another strike on Kyiv was “the second time Ukraine was not warned.”
The Kremlin noted the confusion Wednesday, but said it was “too early to draw any systemic conclusions.”
Zelenskyy said that at least 600,000 people across Ukraine were without power Wednesday after the latest wave of Russian attacks, adding that President Vladimir Putin was in clear violation of the energy truce announced by Trump. “Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States,” he added.
Like Trump, Musk has repeatedly oscillated in his stance on the war.
The billionaire turned on the Starlink satellite internet service over Ukraine shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
It has become a lifeline for war-torn parts of the country, but has also facilitated battlefield communications and enabled the use of longer-range drones, given its resistance to signal jamming.
Musk agreed to turn off thousands of Russian-used Starlinks in Ukraine this year, causing problems ‌for ⁠the Kremlin’s forces. But in recent days, Musk has echoed Trump’s criticism.
The suggestion that his company might have deliberately limited Ukraine’s battlefield operations drew criticism in Europe.
“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again?” Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski wrote in a post on X, referencing a past clash over Starlink in which Musk called him a “small man.”
Sikorski continued; “As your European customers, we are watching you.”

Politics

Trump’s new messenger: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, Megan Brand takes stock of the debut of the new White House press secretary. Plus, Natasha Korecki examines whether Republicans may have a surprise opportunity for a breakthrough in the Midwest.
— Adam Wollner
Trump’s new White House press secretary keeps her first briefing short
By Megan Brand
President Donald Trump’s new White House press secretary Katie Zacharia held an unusually short first briefing with the media today, concluding after less than 15 minutes and calling on just three reporters, all from conservative outlets.
Zacharia spent more than half of that time reading remarks before taking questions from Breitbart, Fox News and the Daily Mail.
In response to one question, she also revealed that the administration has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle, the U.S. ambassador to Greece, to resign following allegations of misconduct.
Zacharia spent most of her remarks touting the president’s policies and framed her new position as a job to “amplify” the president, something she said she’d done as a conservative commentator. She referred to those appearances, telling reporters that she hopes to “take that into an official capacity.”
Now, Zacharia said, she hopes to “only build on, only amplify, and only multiply, to the extent possible, all of the wins” that Trump is “making for Americans, for Americans to understand how much has changed in this brief period of time, what he’s been able to accomplish.”
“My goal is to be able to communicate that in complete tandem with the president, as he is his own best spokesperson, and will absolutely be leading the way with that,” she added.
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt left at the end of August, leaving Trump without a chief spokesperson for much of the run-up to the midterms. The president said during a recent rally in Oklahoma that the administration is “not doing a good job of public relations.” At a separate event, he said that the administration was “doing an extremely poor job of promotion,” despite doing an “extremely great job of running the country.”
Read more →
As Democrats make inroads in red terrain, an unlikely state tightens
Analysis by Natasha Korecki
Amid the run of rosy storylines for Democrats in this midterm election, one state stands out as a potential outlier: blue-leaning Minnesota.
At a time when Senate seats in traditionally Republican states like Texas, Kansas and Alaska appear to be in play for Democrats, Minnesota is surprisingly tight, if recent polls are to be believed.
A KARE 11/Minnesota Star Tribune poll released yesterday shows Democrat Peggy Flanagan with a 4-point lead, 47% to 43%, over Republican Michele Tafoya among likely voters in the Senate race. Another 9% said they were still undecided.
It’s not the sort of edge one would expect from a state that has gone blue in every presidential election since 1972 or in today’s unfavorable political climate toward Republicans.
So what’s different? A few dynamics stand out. First, it’s an open seat, as Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is retiring. Second, Tafoya, a former sports broadcaster and first-time candidate, has attempted to stake out a more independent stance, calling herself a “pro-choice Republican.”
There is also the unique set of local issues in Minnesota around alleged fraud related to social services and investigations by the Trump administration. Amid that effort, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz announced he would abandon his political aspirations and not seek re-election. Flanagan, the lieutenant governor, is Walz’s No. 2 in state government.
In June, after the Justice Department first announced fraud charges in the state, one poll showed Minnesota voters cited fraud as one of their top issues, and said they blamed Walz and wanted more done to stamp it out.
This week, federal authorities searched the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in what sources told NBC News was a federal criminal investigation.
In a post on X, Omar called the search “an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,” adding that over the last decade, President Donald Trump “has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns.”
As for the impact on the Senate race, the Democratic super PAC Senate Majority PAC is looking at it through a lens of “Watch what they do, not what they say.”
Lauren French, a spokesperson for the group, noted that national Republicans have not put money into the state. And while Senate Majority PAC has paid for some digital ads in Texas, it has not spent in Minnesota, campaign finance records show.
“If Republicans really thought this race was competitive, you would see them putting the money that they’re putting into Kansas and South Carolina into Minnesota,” French said. “The fact that they are not is very telling.”
Still, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Nick Puglia said that the fraud investigations that have happened under Walz and Flanagan’s watch put Minnesota “in play.”
“Michele Tafoya is the fighter Minnesotans deserve to stop the fraud and reverse years of failed policies pushed by Flanagan,” Puglia said.
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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CORRECTION: (Oct. 14, 2026, 9:50 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who holds the Minnesota Senate seat Peggy Flanagan and Michele Tafoya are running for. It is represented by Sen. Tina Smith, not Sen. Amy Klobuchar.