Thom Tillis
Thom Tillis is an American politician and Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina. First elected to the Senate in 2014, he previously served as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He has focused on issues including trade with China, criminal justice reform, and U.S. defense commitments to allies.
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Bipartisan group of 23 U.S. House members asks Trump to press Musk on Starlink for strikes inside Russia
Twenty-three members of the U.S. House of Representatives — 7 Republicans and 16 Democrats — sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to ask Elon Musk to let Ukraine use Starlink to target Russian missile launch sites. The letter, led by Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina and announced on X on October 21, comes after SpaceX imposed a speed restriction on the Starshield military package in Ukraine that has disrupted Ukrainian drone operations and frontline communications.
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Trump says Musk lifted Starlink speed limits for Ukraine, but Kyiv reports restrictions remain
President Donald Trump said on October 22 that Elon Musk had removed the speed restrictions affecting Ukraine's military Starlink service, without confirming whether he had personally called Musk. Ukrainian officials and military sources said the limit of roughly 160–161 km/h was still in effect, with connectivity continuing to fail at about 161 km/h. Starlink became more stable after a reported Trump-Musk call on October 21, but the system had not fully regained its functionality.
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US denies ordering Starlink speed restrictions for Ukraine as dispute over responsibility continues
Ukraine’s military use of the military Starshield satellite communications service was speed-restricted, disrupting missions and communications. The restriction has triggered conflicting accounts of responsibility: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, the White House, SpaceX and US officials have offered differing explanations or denied involvement, while Ukraine sought the service’s full restoration.
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Witkoff brings Oslo proposals to Putin in St. Petersburg; Russia signals readiness for new trilateral talks in mid-November
US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Oslo on October 20, then traveled to St. Petersburg for a roughly three-hour meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on October 21. After the talks, Witkoff said Moscow was prepared to resume trilateral US-Russia-Ukraine negotiations in the second ten days of November. The St. Petersburg meeting opened with the announced release of American Stephen Hubbard, held in Russia for over four years.
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Zelensky and Rubio hold 45-minute call on missile interceptors, early warning and Starlink/Starshield
On October 20, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a roughly 45-minute phone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio covering three main topics: ballistic missile interceptors for Ukraine, early warning about Russian ballistic attacks, and the situation around Starlink and Starshield satellite services. Zelensky described the talks as substantive and constructive, while Rubio, speaking to journalists during a visit to India, said US policy toward Ukraine and intelligence sharing remain unchanged and attributed recent warning failures to a technical problem under investigation.
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US lawmaker Fitzpatrick threatens accountability over restrictions on Ukraine's StarShield use; Tillis launches Pentagon inquiry
Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick announced he will pursue accountability — including congressional hearings and budget cuts — for anyone involved in restricting Ukraine's access to the StarShield military satellite platform, and said he would meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week. Republican Senator Tom Tillis separately asked the Pentagon Inspector General to investigate the restrictions, as SpaceX's reported October 14 speed-limit decision continued to affect Ukrainian drone operations.
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Zelensky accuses Pentagon of blocking paid Patriot missile transfers to Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly accused the US Department of Defense of deliberately delaying transfers of Patriot interceptor missiles that Ukraine's allies have already paid for. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not formally rejected the shipments but has also not completed the steps needed to approve them, while continuing to approve other forms of US assistance. Zelensky said Ukraine currently receives only about 12 Patriot missiles per month, roughly a quarter of the volume supplied under the Biden administration, and called on Ukrainian diplomats to urgently contact partners for air-defense support.
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Trump suspends Russia sanctions under Graham Law, agrees Russian diesel deal, in sharp break with Zelensky
On October 16, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the implementation of sanctions and tariffs against Russia under the bipartisan Graham Law (HR 5334), just two days before they were due to take effect. The move came a week after Trump agreed during a phone call with Vladimir Putin to import hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel fuel. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the 60-day review and rejected criticism that easing sanctions was a "gift" to Putin. President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that if the United States sides with Russia, Ukraine "will not be able to win and will not be able to survive," and said the sanctions suspension is a continuation of Trump's "diesel deal" with Moscow. The decision drew rare bipartisan criticism, including from Republican Senators John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, Ted Cruz, Kevin Cramer and Dave McCormick, as well as Democrats. Separately, SpaceX unilaterally restricted the Starshield terminals that Ukraine's military relies on, and US officials warned Ukraine that intelligence sharing and arms supplies could be reduced.
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US ordered Starlink restrictions for Ukraine, Reuters reports; Trump denies involvement
In the night of October 13–14, SpaceX unilaterally imposed speed restrictions on Starshield satellite terminals used by Ukrainian forces, cutting off connectivity above roughly 160 km/h during a major Russian attack. Reuters, citing two US officials and one Western official, reports the order came from the White House, while The Telegraph says Elon Musk proposed the idea and Donald Trump agreed. Trump publicly denied both his own and Musk's involvement. By October 15 the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said operation in motion had been restored, though President Zelensky said the previous speeds had not returned and the cap was being lifted only gradually.
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Ukraine's defence minister meets US senators, hands over list of military needs focused on air defence
Ukraine's Defence Minister Yevheniy Khmara met with US senators Tom Tillis, John Curtis and Alan Armstrong and presented a concrete list of Ukrainian needs to counter Russian aggression, with air defence as a priority. The talks covered the battlefield situation, Russian threats, Ukraine's air defence requirements and further support for the Defence Forces, including through the PURL and JUMPSTART weapons-supply mechanisms.