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Elon Musk has said that his company SpaceX is restricting Ukraine’s Starlink Internet service, after Ukrainian officials said the connectivity problems appeared to have been resolved.
The tech billionaire has accused Ukraine of violating its terms of service by using it for military activities – but denies being responsible for a concurrent issue with its US-run, military counterpart Starshield.
Kiev has not officially commented on Musk’s latest claim, but Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said his post was “very strange”.
Musk had previously denied deliberately throttling Ukraine’s communications, which he said had hampered his ability to conduct defensive operations for more than a week.
The issue first arose last week amid a wider dispute between Washington and Kiev over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.
Musk’s latest comments, and the apparent restoration of service, came after US President Donald Trump said he had told Tesla and X owners to “reset it” after repeatedly refusing to instruct him to limit service.
“The use of Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday.
“Ukraine[‘s] Military violates Starlink terms of service and uses it for offensive drone attacks to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”
He went on to say that SpaceX had “done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth” and reiterated his determination that Starshield was another system and controlled by the US government, adding: “What they decide to do is up to them.”
He added in a later post: “[Starlink] can be used for infrastructure that is military, but it cannot be used for unambiguous offensive strikes that make it fair game to be hit back.
Reacting to Musk’s post, Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram that Starlink terminals operating in Ukraine have a speed limit of 70-90 km/h and do not operate on Russian territory.
“That’s why we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strike and medium strike,” he said.
“It’s very strange that Elon Musk is not aware of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine.”
There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine uses both the civilian service Starlink and the more secure Starshield, depending on what communications are needed, both of which run on networks of low-Earth orbit satellites launched by SpaceX.
Starlink allows military units to coordinate, especially in remote areas on the battlefield, while Starshield allows Ukrainian drone operators to view targets in real time, as well as operate interceptor drones.
Russia is not authorized to use Starlink, so if Ukraine sends long-range missiles or drones deep into Russia to hit oil refineries, the network will not work.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said earlier on Saturday that the military had now recorded a “stable connection”, with drones now able to reach speeds of more than 400km/h (249mph). Kiev previously said the connection would cut over 161 km/h.
“Speeds are now where they need to be,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
