SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says his company restricted Ukraine’s Starlink internet service after Kyiv violated the terms of service for the communications satellite system by using it for offensive military purposes.
The tech mogul claims that Ukraine’s use of Starlink directly supported military action. SpaceX has a similar military system, Starshield, that operates on similar technology but is exclusively for military and national security purposes.
Mr. Musk has denied responsibility for slowing Kyiv’s early warning system, which U.S. lawmakers said put American diplomats and security personnel at risk. He said Saturday that his company deteriorated its Starlink service because it was being used for offensive military purposes.
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“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Mr. Musk said Saturday on social media. “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”
Mr. Musk’s post came after SpaceX seemed to restore service at the request of President Trump, who told reporters on Friday that he would speak to the CEO to ensure “it was fixed.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said Mr. Musk’s post was “very strange.” The Ukrainian government has not officially commented on Mr. Musk’s claims.
Serhii Sternenko, founder of a Ukrainian drone company that supplies the Ukrainian Defense Forces, said that Mr. Musk’s claim was false. In his own social media post, Mr. Sternenko said that “as someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true” about Starlink being used for offensive purposes.
Mr. Sternenko described the technical layout of how Ukraine has used the Starlink terminals, saying that Starshield was still a major component of the Ukrainian military’s methods.
“In other words, using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible,” he said. “All drone missions that required satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.”
Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Starlink and Starshield were now fully functional after the restrictions were lifted.
Neither Mr. Musk nor the White House claimed responsibility for the restrictions imposed last week. Mr. Musk’s change in tune contradicts his previous statements that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
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