Ukraine disputes Musk's claim that its military violated Starlink terms
Musk tied the Starlink throttling to Ukrainian drone strikes. A Zelenskyy adviser says long-standing restrictions on civilian systems made offensive use impossible.
Archive image · Photo: Support Forces of Ukraine Command / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Elon Musk has accused Ukraine's military of violating the terms of service of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet. "Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be," Musk wrote, according to AP, adding that "that loophole was closed last week." He acknowledged SpaceX had throttled Starlink in Ukraine and said the U.S. government controlled the changes to the military-focused Starshield service.
Kyiv rejected the claim. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said long-standing restrictions on civilian systems in Ukraine made offensive use impossible. "It's very strange that Elon Musk doesn't know about the restrictions on Starlink's operation in Ukraine," he wrote.
Ukrainian officials said the speed caps were lifted Saturday after commanders reported lost drones and disrupted missions. Zelenskyy said Sunday that Russia had launched nearly 2,300 drones, about 1,600 guided bombs and 48 missiles at Ukraine over the past week.