那么，究竟是谁故意破坏了乌克兰使用的关键卫星通信系统，导致该国在最近几天更容易受到俄罗斯的攻击呢？
So, who slowed down a crucial satellite communications system used by Ukraine, making the country more vulnerable to Russian attacks in recent days?
就连一些共和党重要人士也要求给出解释，并威胁要对责任人追究责任。
Even some key Republicans are demanding answers and promising consequences for those responsible.
然而，特朗普政府及其主要盟友埃隆·马斯克给出的答复却令人困惑、信息不完整，甚至有时相互矛盾。
But the Trump administration and its top ally, Elon Musk, have so far offered a confusing, incomplete and sometimes contradictory set of answers.
特朗普政府否认自己负有责任；但这次通信系统的故障恰恰发生在特朗普在乌克兰问题上突然转向俄罗斯、与俄罗斯立场接近的时期。上周，马斯克似乎多次将责任指向特朗普。
The administration has disowned responsibility, but the disruption came right as Trump sharply turned away from Ukraine and toward Russia in its yearslong war. And Musk seemed to repeatedly point the finger toward Trump last week.
这场争议始于一周前：乌克兰指控马斯克的SpaceX公司通过突然限制其“Starlink”卫星互联网服务，严重阻碍了其国防行动。“Starlink”系统利用低轨道卫星进行通信；乌克兰一直依赖该系统以及相关的军用级通信服务“Starshield”来快速传递信息、并发起或阻止无人机攻击。乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基明确指责了特朗普政府。
The controversy began a week ago when Ukraine accused Musk’s SpaceX of severely hindering its defense by suddenly limiting its Starlink internet service, which uses satellites in low orbit. Ukraine has used Starlink and a related military-grade service, Starshield, to communicate quickly and to both launch and prevent drone attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pointed at the Trump administration.
据路透社周四报道（消息来源匿名），白宫曾向国防部下达指令，要求减缓“Starshield”系统的运行速度。不过CNN尚未证实这一消息的真实性；多位消息人士向CNN表示，该指令并非来自特朗普本人，特朗普本人也否认与此事有关。
Reuters also reported Thursday, citing anonymous sources, that the White House sent a message to the Defense Department to slow down the Starshield system. CNN has not confirmed that reporting. Multiple sources told CNN that the direction didn’t come from Trump, who also denied being involved.
泽连斯基在周日接受NBC电视台《Meet the Press》节目采访时指出：“这个指令肯定来自政府方面”，并强调SpaceX公司实际执行了这一命令。
Zelensky pointed at the White House during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. He said: “Of course the message came from government,” while adding that SpaceX carried out the order.
次日，泽连斯基通过发布一张模糊的儿童照片来强调这种限制行为的严重后果——他说这名儿童是被俄罗斯制造的“Shahed”无人机杀害的。
The next day, Zelensky sought to emphasize the price of such limitations by posting a blurred image of a child he said was killed by a Russian Shahed drone.
周三，马斯克似乎也在暗示美国政府与此事有关。在回应乌克兰前国防部长的言论时，马斯克强调“Starshield系统由美国政府拥有并控制”，并表示“任何关于系统速度或使用方式的限制都由美国军方决定，最终由美国总统作出决定”。
And Musk also seemed to gesture in the US government’s direction on Wednesday. Responding to Ukraine’s former defense minister on X, Musk emphasized that Starshield was “owned and controlled by the US government.”“Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” Musk said.
当另一位X平台用户提出“Starshield系统确实处于美国政府控制之下，并且昨晚的决策也是美国政府作出的”这一观点时，马斯克表示：“没错。”不过特朗普政府否认了与此事的任何关联，甚至一度质疑是否真的发生了网络中断现象。
When another X user claimed, alongside a series of claims, that “Starshield is under U.S. government control. That is who made last night’s call,” Musk responded: “True.”But the Trump administration has denied involvement and even at times questioned whether there was a disruption.
周五，特朗普断然否认自己与此事有关，并表示：“那不是我做的；我也不清楚到底是谁干的，我觉得也不可能是埃隆（马斯克）干的。”
Trump said flatly on Friday, “I didn’t do that.”He added: “I don’t know if it was anybody, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.”
周六，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥称泽连斯基“根本不知道自己在说什么”，并称有关白宫参与Starlink网络中断事件的报道“完全是虚假的”。卢比奥还表示：“这与白宫毫无关系；白宫没有任何人下令减缓网络速度或限制某些无人机的网络使用。”
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Zelensky didn’t know “what he’s talking about” and called reports of a White House role in the Starlink disruptions “categorically false.”“Nothing to do with the White House,” Rubio said, adding: “No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or slow down speed so that certain drones couldn’t use it.”
特朗普周一表示：“我还不知道到底是谁干的，但我希望查明真相。”
Trump signaled Monday that he still didn’t know who was responsible. “I don’t know who it was, but I’d like to find out,” he said.
不过，这些言论之间存在一些矛盾之处。周五时，特朗普甚至质疑是否真的发生了网络速度的减缓；他表示“根本没觉得网络速度有所下降”，并补充说：“我认为Starlink系统的运行状态和以往一样正常。”
But some of these comments are difficult to reconcile. Trump on Friday also seemed to question whether there even a slowdown. He said he didn’t “even think it was slowed down,” and that “I think it’s probably functioning.”“They say it’s the same as it always has been,” Trump added.
鲁比奥周五在评论中还声称，“星盾”——即“星链”的军用版本——“目前并未提供给乌克兰”，且“与乌克兰无关”。但彭博社两年前曾报道，乌克兰已获准使用“星盾”。鲁比奥周一在乌兹别克斯坦的讲话中也证实，“乌克兰从中受益”。马斯克的言论同样令人费解。他似乎将任何“星盾”决策归咎于政府和特朗普，但他补充称，“星链”——即民用版本——“不能用于进攻性军事行动，因为这对一家商业公司来说是不合适的。”这可以被解读为暗示，关于乌克兰使用“星链”也存在争议。
Rubio in his comments Friday also claimed that Starshield — which is, again, the military-grade version of Starlink — was “not at this moment available to Ukraine” and “has nothing to do with Ukraine.”But Bloomberg reported two years ago that Ukraine had been given access to Starshield. And in comments Monday in Uzbekistan, Rubio confirmed that “Ukraine has benefited from it.”Musk’s comments are also somewhat confusing. While he seemed to point at the administration and Trump for any Starshield decisions, he added that Starlink — the civilian version — “cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”That could be read to suggest there was a dispute about Ukraine’s use of Starlink, as well.
此外，两名美国高级官员向CNN透露，“星盾”订单并非来自特朗普。
Also, two senior US officials have told CNN that the Starshield order did not come from Trump.
值得强调的是，这一事件并非孤立发生。它发生在特朗普疏远乌克兰、日益向俄罗斯靠拢的多重迹象之中。
It’s worth emphasizing that this episode didn’t happen in a vacuum. It comes amid multiple signs of Trump moving away from Ukraine and increasingly cozying up to Russia.
特朗普指责乌克兰袭击俄罗斯炼油厂导致柴油价格高企（尽管有确凿证据表明伊朗战争才是价格上涨的主要原因）。他最近还推迟了对俄罗斯实施重大新制裁。他寻求进口俄罗斯柴油，同时加大对乌克兰的压力，迫使其向莫斯科做出更多让步以结束战争，而这场战争始于2022年俄罗斯的无端入侵。
Trump has taken to blaming Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries for high diesel prices (despite compelling evidence that the Iran war is the main culprit for the prices). He has also recently delayed major new sanctions on Russia. And he sought to import Russian diesel, while upping the pressure on Ukraine to concede more to Moscow to end the war, which began with Russia’s unprovoked invasion in 2022.
“星链”争议还发生在乌克兰指责政府扣留关键情报共享之际。特朗普政府否认这一指控，尽管CNN此前曾报道，政府曾威胁要这样做。
The Starlink controversy also comes as Ukraine has accused the administration of withholding vital intelligence-sharing. That’s another charge the Trump administration denies, despite CNN having previously reported that it threatened to do just that.
马斯克至少在姿态上向特朗普示好，这一点也极为引人注目，因为这位SpaceX首席执行官是特朗普的主要盟友，也是中期选举中特朗普所在政党最大的金主。他为共和党花费了数亿美元。
Musk’s decision to at least gesture toward Trump is also extremely notable, given the SpaceX CEO is a major Trump ally and the biggest benefactor of Trump’s political party in the midterm elections. He’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars for the Republican Party.
马斯克本可以说“星盾”加速决策由联邦政府决定，到此为止。但他接着说了“最终由美国总统决定”。随后他还发了一条“True”（属实）的帖子。在混乱之中，一些国会共和党人正在要求给出答复。
Musk could have said Starshield speed decisions are decided by the federal government and stopped there. But he continued by saying, “and ultimately POTUS.”And then he also did the “True” post. Amid the confusion, some congressional Republicans are demanding answers.
其中包括即将卸任的内布拉斯加州众议员唐·培根和面临艰难选情的宾夕法尼亚州众议员迈克·菲茨帕特里克。菲茨帕特里克周一在X平台发誓，那些限制“星盾”使用的人“将接受彻底调查，并将被追究全部责任”。他还承诺将举行国会听证会，并对“任何负责的机构或机构负责人”实施“立即、严厉且具有惩罚性的预算削减”。
They include retiring Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska and vulnerable Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Fitzpatrick vowed Monday on X that those limiting Starshield “will be fully investigated and will be held fully accountable.”He also promised congressional hearings and “immediate harsh and punitive budget cuts to any responsible agency or agency head.”Outgoing Sens.
即将卸任的北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯和得克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁也联同民主党人要求追责，蒂利斯称这要么是“不可接受的错误或疏忽”，要么是有意为“俄罗斯攻击扫清障碍”的“决定”。答案可能不会立即揭晓，但如果民主党在明年1月控制国会一个或两个议院，这场争议可能会再次成为焦点。
Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas have also joined with Democrats to demand accountability, with Tillis calling it either “an unacceptable error or lapse” or a conscious “decision to clear the field for a Russian attack.”Answers may not be imminent, but this controversy could return to the fore should Democrats control one or both chambers of Congress come January.