Elon Musk accused Ukraine of violating Starlink terms of service by using it for lethal drone strikes.
Musk said Ukraine used the Starlink commercial service for offensive drone strikes. Musk’s comment on Saturday came after SpaceX imposed a restriction preventing Ukraine from using the satellite technology on drones flying above certain speeds.
One current and one former Ukraine official denied Musk’s accusation and said previous limits imposed by SpaceX already prevented Ukraine’s military from using Starlink in the way Musk described. Ukraine officials have accused Musk of throttling their use of Starshield, the military variant of Starlink that Ukraine has access to through a deal with the US government.
Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that the new satellite restrictions have been lifted, possibly ending a controversy that began almost two weeks ago.
Musk wrote on Saturday that “using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be. Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them. Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”
“Physically impossible”
Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology advisor for Zelenskyy, denied the allegation in a Telegram post on Sunday. Beskrestnov wrote that all Starlink terminals located over Ukrainian territory, including territories occupied by Russia, were already subject to a movement speed limit of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour. He added that Starlink does not function over the territory of Russia.
“Consequently, it is PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for us to use commercial Starlink for deep-strike or medium-range strike operations,” Beskrestnov wrote. He called it “very strange that Elon Musk is unaware of the operational limitations of Starlink in Ukraine.”
Musk wrote on Sunday that Zelenskyy himself “posted about using Starlink for offensive drone strikes, which has always been against Starlink’s terms of service.” Musk cited a Zelenskyy post in which he said, “We also use Starlink for mid-range strikes against enemy military targets in our temporarily occupied territories.”
The Starlink and Starshield names are often used interchangeably by government officials discussing military use, making it difficult to determine whether certain statements refer to the civilian or military version of the technology. Zelenskyy and other Ukraine officials this month referred to both Starlink and Starshield when they complained that military drones lost satellite connectivity when traveling above 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour).
“Speeds are now where they need to be”
Ukraine officials say the restriction imposed earlier this month has been lifted. “Ukraine’s Defense Ministry told reporters on Oct. 24 that Starshield was working above speeds of 400 kilometers per hour (about 248 miles per hour) again,”
Zelenskyy wrote on Saturday, “Starlink and Starshield operations have been restored to the speeds we had before the restrictions. The speeds are now where they need to be. The restoration began overnight, and by this morning, speeds were already sufficient. This matters: for our frontline logistics, for defending Ukraine against jet-powered ‘shaheds.’”
Serhii Sternenko, who served as an advisor for the Ukraine Ministry of Defense earlier this year and now runs an organization that supplies drones to the Ukraine military, wrote that “Ukraine did not violate the terms of use.”
“Elon Musk claims that Ukraine allegedly violated Starlink’s terms of use and used the system on combat drones. As someone who was inside the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true,” Sternenko wrote. “In February of this year, whitelists were introduced. Stationary terminals could be registered by both military personnel and civilians. But 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. Otherwise, no satellite communication terminals in Ukraine would work. In other words, using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible. All drone missions that required satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.”
Musk: Starshield limits are up to POTUS
Musk initially responded to the controversy by stating that, unlike the Starlink commercial service, “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Musk added that “Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action,” but did not at first accuse Ukraine of violating that restriction.
President Trump denied making the decision to limit Ukraine’s satellite connectivity and reportedly called Musk to ask him to lift the restrictions.
SpaceX confirmed in 2023 that it had blocked Ukraine from using Starlink with military drones, saying its contract with Ukraine did not allow offensive uses. In May 2026, Musk said that US military suicide drones set up by a contractor incorrectly used Starlink instead of Starshield.
On Saturday, Musk wrote that “Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.”
Jon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter
Jon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter
Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.
Source: arstechnica.com
