Musk alleges Ukrainian 'elites' grew rich on aid and US funds were laundered back to American campaigns, as Kyiv says Starlink limits remain

SpaceX and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk wrote in a series of posts on X on Friday 23 October that Ukrainian “elites” had grown rich from foreign assistance while ordinary citizens’ children were conscripted to fight, and alleged that some US taxpayer money sent to Ukraine is laundered back to finance American political campaigns.

In his first post at 5:04pm GMT on Friday, Musk wrote: “What’s actually going on in Ukraine is that there is a massive incentive difference between the elites and the people. The former have grown very rich off the hundreds of billions flowing to Ukraine, while the latter’s children are conscripted to die in trenches.”

“What’s actually going on in Ukraine is that there is a massive incentive difference between the elites and the people. The former have grown very rich off the hundreds of billions flowing to Ukraine, while the latter’s children are conscripted to die in trenches.” Elon Musk on X, 23 October 2026

Nine minutes later, at 5:13pm GMT, Musk posted a reply adding: “And some of that US taxpayer money comes back through multiple laundry machines to fund political campaigns in America, which is why you see some politicians caring more about Ukraine than America!” At 5:26pm GMT, he reposted an account quoting his remarks alongside the comment: “This war has been going on for nearly five years, and somehow the one thing that never seems to run out is money…”

Musk did not name specific individuals or politicians or cite evidence for the campaign-funding allegation in his posts, Ukrainian outlet Censor.NET noted in its report on the remarks. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and Ukrainian news agency UNIAN also reported the posts on Friday evening, with RIA Novosti noting Moscow’s stated position that Western weapons deliveries to Kyiv hinder negotiations and prolong the conflict.

Dispute over Starlink and Starshield speed limits

Musk’s posts followed a week of scrutiny over Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network that Ukraine’s armed forces use for battlefield communications and drone operations. Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter, that Musk had authorised a speed cap on Starshield terminals in Ukraine starting on 13 October, impairing long-range strike and interceptor drones. CBS News separately reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Musk made the decision after holding conversations with administration officials and expressing distaste with SpaceX being seen as profiting from the war. Musk wrote on X last week that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”.

On Thursday 22 October, The Wall Street Journal reported that US President Donald Trump had called Musk to express frustration that the speed caps remained in place and asked him to lift them. Asked by reporters at the White House on Thursday evening whether he had spoken to Musk, Trump said: “My relationship with Elon is very good. I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called, or someone else called, doesn’t make any difference, I guess. The bottom line — he put it back,” Reuters and POLITICO Europe reported.

On Friday 23 October, however, Ukrainian officials said the restrictions had not been removed. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Telegram that “at present, we have not observed any lifting of restrictions on Starlink,” adding that isolated instances of terminals operating above the cap were likely the result of SpaceX algorithms or specific usage conditions rather than a removal of limits, Reuters reported. A Ukrainian defence ministry official told reporters on Friday morning that connectivity losses at speeds of 161 km/h were still being observed, and a drone pilot from Ukraine’s Magyar’s Birds unit told POLITICO Europe that while speeds had improved in some tests, connections still dropped after flying above 180 km/h for a couple of minutes.

Also on Thursday, US Senator Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Musk opening a congressional inquiry into the 13 October Starshield restriction and the US government’s reliance on SpaceX technology. Speaking to reporters in Istanbul on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada was concerned by the reported manipulation of Starlink in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported via the Financial Post. “I search for the right adjective to describe whoever took this decision, or a group of people took this decision, against a country — and it’s against a country that is literally fighting for the lives of its citizens against naked aggression,” Carney said, adding that Canadians did not want to be reliant on a single provider that could change its view or be forced to do so by a nation state.

Official record on US Ukraine aid and mobilisation

Ukrainian officials and Western governments state that international military and financial aid enables Ukraine to defend its territory and civilian population against Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected claims that Washington was deliberately withholding support from Kyiv, while stating during a visit to India that the US administration could not direct SpaceX on Starlink operations because it is a private company, POLITICO Europe reported.

On the accounting of US assistance, US congressional researchers and the offices of the Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve—which coordinates oversight by the Department of Defense, State Department and USAID inspectors general—have stated that the majority of US funding appropriated for Ukraine is spent in the United States to manufacture weapons and replenish US military stockpiles rather than transferred as cash to Kyiv. In its quarterly report to Congress covering January to March 2026, the Special Inspector General stated that US European Command and the Security Assistance Group–Ukraine had “not identified credible evidence indicating any illicit diversion or misuse of U.S.-provided defense articles for Ukraine,” while noting ongoing audits of equipment accounting and end-use monitoring. Direct US budget support for Ukraine’s government has been channelled through World Bank reimbursement mechanisms subject to third-party verification, according to the inspector general reports.

Within Ukraine, independent anti-corruption agencies—the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO)—have investigated and prosecuted domestic wartime procurement and bribery cases involving defence, energy and local officials.

Ukraine has been under martial law and general mobilisation since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with most men aged 18 to 60 barred from leaving the country and men aged 25 to 60 subject to conscription after President Volodymyr Zelensky signed legislation in April 2024 lowering the minimum mobilisation age from 27 to 25.

See also: Musk ordered Starlink slowdown that hit Ukraine’s drones, Wall Street Journal reports and Rubio calls claims the US is withholding support from Ukraine ‘scandalous’ and says ‘nothing’ is being deliberately denied.