Schiff Wants Hegseth to Testify as Dispute Over Ukraine Starlink Limits Grows

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify before the Senate about limits placed on the Starlink satellite service that disrupted Ukrainian military operations, according to NBC News. The call adds a congressional front to a dispute over who ordered the slowdown, and Ukraine, SpaceX and the White House have offered differing accounts.

Schiff made the remarks on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He said that if Democrats retake the Senate, Hegseth and anyone else with knowledge of what happened should be brought in.

What happened to Starlink in Ukraine

Last week, Starlink and Starshield, SpaceX’s military network, were disrupted, Ukraine said. Ukrainian officials said the disruptions made it harder to intercept incoming Russian attacks. On Saturday, Ukraine said both systems were again working at high speeds.

The disruptions led to rising tensions with the United States amid questions about who may have ordered the slowdown. Starlink is run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

What each side says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on “Meet the Press” last week that his government believed the decision to limit Starlink came from the U.S. government. He said the message from Washington was to limit the speed and that SpaceX carried it out technically.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that President Donald Trump called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on the company’s satellite service. On Thursday, Trump said Musk had restored Starlink in Ukraine. A day later, Ukraine denied that the system was working properly. The Trump administration has denied that it requested changes to Starlink’s operation in Ukraine, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that reports that Washington was denying Ukraine something it needed to defend itself were not accurate.

Musk, for his part, accused Ukraine in overnight posts on X of violating Starlink’s terms of service by using the system for offensive strikes. He said the company had simply enforced those terms after they were bypassed and that the “loophole was closed.” He had earlier said that limits on the speed or usage of Starshield are decided by the U.S. military and, ultimately, the president.

Schiff pointed to the contradictions. He said the president was saying one thing and Musk another, and at different times. “Somebody is lying here,” he said, adding that perhaps all of them were in different ways and that the public needed to find out.

What’s at stake for national security

Schiff argued that the world’s richest person should not be controlling U.S. national security interests, calling the situation a threat to national security if the accounts were true. He pointed to Musk’s overnight posts as a sign that something changed within the last week and said lawmakers should ask what changed, why it changed and what effect it is having on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.

Schiff said those were questions Republicans have been unwilling to ask.

The dispute matters beyond the politics. A satellite network that Ukraine relies on for military operations is run by a private company, and the accounts of who can set its limits conflict. Ukraine said the slowdown hampered its ability to intercept Russian attacks, while the company’s owner said it was enforcing its own rules.

Schiff’s call for testimony is tied to Democrats retaking the Senate.

Around Prague, based on reporting by NBC News