Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Ukraine’s access to Starlink is controlled by SpaceX and its owner, Elon Musk, rather than the White House, amid conflicting reports about who ordered restrictions on the satellite network used by Ukrainian forces in their war against Russia.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to India, Rubio said he was unaware that the administration had been informed of the decision beforehand, but argued that the government’s involvement was not the central issue.

“I’m not aware that we knew about this decision beforehand,” Rubio said, according to Reuters. “But that’s irrelevant. The bottom line is that that is governed by a private commercial contract as to how their stuff can be used and what speeds they’ll allow it to be used at.”

The comments followed a Wall Street Journal report that Musk ordered a slowdown affecting a military-grade version of Starlink used by Ukraine. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter who said Musk had been discussing Ukraine with President Donald Trump and other White House officials around the time of the restrictions.

The White House has denied ordering the slowdown. However, Reuters previously reported that two U.S. officials said the order to limit Ukraine’s access to Starshield, a secure satellite communications service operated by SpaceX, originated inside the White House.

The competing accounts have raised questions about whether the restrictions were a company decision or the result of administration intervention.

According to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Musk limited connection speeds for Ukrainian equipment the previous week. The restrictions reportedly disrupted some offensive and interceptor drones, affecting equipment used in Ukraine’s military operations against Russian forces.

Rubio addressed the dispute again on Saturday, saying the slowdown had not been deliberately ordered by the administration and that service had since been restored. He also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s account that the White House had imposed the restrictions.

“I’m not sure Zelenskyy knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate,” Rubio said. “We have nothing to do with that. Nobody ordered that Starlink speed to be slowed down. It sort of happened, but my understanding is it’s been restored.”

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also pointed to the company’s authority over its service. He told reporters that Starlink has terms of service that users must follow and that the company can make decisions about how its network is used.

The dispute highlights Ukraine’s reliance on privately operated satellite communications for military operations and the influence SpaceX’s service policies can have on the battlefield. It also leaves competing accounts of the restrictions unresolved, with U.S. officials and media reports offering differing explanations for how the slowdown was initiated.