Elon Musk Claims Ukraine Violated Starlink Terms for Drone Strikes, Kyiv Denies

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has accused Ukraine's military of violating Starlink's terms of service, following statements from Kyiv that access to the service had been restored. Musk stated on X that Ukraine's armed forces had "violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people." He added, "That loophole was closed last week," referring to recent temporary restrictions that limited Starlink speeds to 100 miles per hour. Musk also clarified that Starshield is a separate system managed by the U.S. government. He emphasized Ukraine's critical dependence on Starlink for its defense, warning that "the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately" if the service were deactivated.

Serhiy Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukrainian President Zelensky, disputed Musk's assertion that Ukraine was using the commercial service for lethal strikes. Beskrestnov cited speed restrictions and the unavailability of the service over Russian territory as reasons why Ukraine was "physically unable to use commercial Starlink" for medium- and long-range strikes into Russia. Serhiy Sternenko, a former advisor to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, also refuted Musk's claims, stating with certainty, "As someone who was involved in the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true." He echoed Beskrestnov's point, explaining that it was "technically impossible to use the civilian Starlink system for drone missions" and that all such missions requiring satellite communication were conducted using Starshield.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday that full access to both Starlink and Starshield had been restored. This development followed a report that U.S. President Donald Trump had asked Musk to lift restrictions on Kyiv's use of the military-grade version of the Starlink internet service. Ukrainian Minister of Defense Yevheniy Khmara confirmed in a statement that monitoring systems were recording a recovery in Starlink/Starshield speeds, with restored speeds exceeding 400 kilometers per hour.

For over a week, Ukraine had experienced a speed limitation on Starshield satellite terminals used by its military, which hampered its capacity to intercept fast-moving Russian drones. Officials from the Trump administration have denied instructing Musk to throttle Ukraine's use of Starshield, which Ukrainian officials said was limited to 100 mph. Musk had previously suggested the Trump administration was responsible for the ban.

The dispute occurs amidst ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities reported that over 153 Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were launched from Russia, primarily targeting large department stores and warehouses, resulting in at least three deaths and 25 injuries. Russia's Ministry of Defense stated that Ukrainian attacks killed at least two people and injured 22, claiming to have intercepted 532 UAVs fired from Ukraine and that industrial sites were hit in multiple regions.