Elon Musk is accusing the Ukrainian military of violating “Starlink terms of service” via what he defined as a “loophole” that was “closed last week.”
Ukraine has been relying on Musk’s Starlink in its fight against Russian forces, but that access was partially cut off recently.
The Ukrainian military just regained access to Elon Musk’s Starlink after a period of slowdown. Earlier this month, the Ukrainian government said its missions were disrupted after the military abruptly lost access to some Starlink services, particularly impacting Starshield, the company’s military-grade version of the service. Ukraine mainly relies on Starshield to intercept Russian Shahed drones, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, while also relying on Starlink for drone operations and battlefield communications. Starshield is also used for offensive military purposes, per Axios.
But Musk took to his X account over the weekend to dispute that characterization, claiming that Starlink was being used in “offensive drone strikes to kill people.”
“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote.
Ukrainian officials have reportedly disputed that characterization, with former Ukrainian advisor Serhii Sternenko claiming that “using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible.”
“For any satellite terminal to work while on the move, it had to be added to a special list and connected to the military Starshield system,” Sternenko wrote. “Otherwise, no satellite communication terminals in Ukraine would work.”
Meanwhile, a blame game over the limit reduction has been unfolding for the past few weeks. Some Ukrainian officials have reportedly blamed SpaceX for the slowdown. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser Serhii Beskrestnov reportedly wrote on Telegram that the disruption occurred because “SpaceX implemented a speed limit for Starlink terminals.” A Wall Street Journal report claimed that Musk gave the order to obstruct Ukrainian access to Starshield, while a Reuters report says the decision came from the White House. In another report, Reuters claimed that the government has sought influence over Starlink operations for years, and cited former senior U.S. officials who claimed that both the Biden and Trump administrations had asked SpaceX to turn Starlink on or off in various countries, including in Yemen, Lebanon, Iran and Ukraine.
The limit came amid escalating tensions between President Trump and Zelenskyy, with Trump upset over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. Both Musk and the Trump administration denied accusations that they made the decision, but Musk took to X to claim that it was “time for Zelensky to go.”
Ukrainian officials say that the slowdown negatively impacted their operations against Russian forces, showing just how much power Musk’s company, and Musk personally as an extension of it, hold in diplomacy and global conflict.
“When the speed was reduced, we were unable to intercept a certain number of jet-powered ‘Shaheds,” Zelenskyy tweeted earlier this month. “We couldn’t use a tool that helps protect people. That’s very painful and frustrating.”
