7 Republicans join letter urging Trump, Musk to give Ukraine targeting access in Russia

A bipartisan group of nearly two dozen House members is urging President Trump to ask tech mogul Elon Musk to give Ukraine access to Starlink satellite systems to hunt for missile launchers inside Russia, according to a letter sent Wednesday and obtained exclusively by The Hill.

The signatories included seven House Republicans alongside 16 Democrats, widening the GOP coalition looking to bring Trump back to the side of Ukraine as he has swung hard in favor of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We are writing to urge you to ask Elon Musk to let Ukraine use the Starlink satellite internet system to hunt for missile launchers inside Russia. With one phone call, you could both save lives and give Vladimir Putin greater incentives to negotiate,” the lawmakers wrote.

“If Ukraine cannot reliably intercept Russian ‘arrows,’ it must be able to shoot the ‘archer.’ The Starlink system run by Mr. Musk’s company SpaceX could help with that.”

The Republican signatories include stalwart Ukraine supporters Reps. Joe Wilson (S.C.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Don Bacon (Neb.), along with Reps. Carlos Gimenez (Fla.), Jeff Hurd (Colo.), Andy Harris (Md.) and Max Miller (Ohio), who represents a heavily Ukrainian district.

“Mr. President, we all share the goal of bringing an end to the war in Ukraine and the devastating loss of life it has caused,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter sent Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, Putin presently has no intention of stopping the bloodshed.”

The letter bolsters the lobbying campaign on the Senate side led by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who chairs the Armed Services Committee and led a congressional delegation to Ukraine last week.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) was also on that trip and penned an op-ed in The Washington Post urging the U.S. to give Ukraine expanded access to Musk’s satellites.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has also pushed for more U.S. help in targeting Russia’s missile launchers.

“Mr. President, as you know, Kyiv has petitioned Mr. Musk for a carve-out to this restriction. But only you can push this matter over the goal line,” the lawmakers wrote.

Trump has called for Ukraine to stop hitting Russian oil refineries, blaming those attacks for the high diesel prices in the U.S. that are largely attributed to the war against Iran.

The bipartisan letter comes as a growing number of Republicans have expressed outrage over disruptions in Ukraine to Starlink — and its military-grade version, Starshield — that hampered air defense and offensive missions.

The Wall Street Journal reported Musk ordered a slowdown in Starlink’s services. It’s not clear how involved Trump was in the discussions surrounding the slowdown.

Some Republicans have joined Democrats in calling for an investigation into the throttling of Starlink and Starshield. Many of these same Republicans have expressed further outrage over Trump waiving sanctions on Russia to export diesel fuel, as he tries to lower prices before the midterms.

Fitzpatrick and Bacon, in particular, have threatened to disrupt Trump’s agenda after the midterms if the president does not change course on Russia and Ukraine.

This includes providing Ukraine “any and all defensive equipment,” blocking imports of Russian oil and raising sanctions against Russia, Fitzpatrick wrote on social media Monday.

“Each and every one of these items will be brought to the House Floor—and each and every one of these items will pass on the House Floor by an overwhelming margin,” he wrote.