Musk explained Starlink restrictions: Ukrainian military breached terms of use
American billionaire and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has claimed that the Ukrainian military allegedly breached the terms of use for Starlink terminals by using them for "offensive drone strikes".
He wrote about this on his social media platform X, according to Censor.NET.
Reason for the restrictions
He reiterated that "the use of the civilian commercial Starlink service for offensive drone strikes aimed at killing people has never been permitted and should never be permitted".
Whereas the Starshield system, according to Musk, is under the control of the US government, and decisions regarding it fall within its remit.
"The Ukrainian military breached the terms of use for Starlink and used it for offensive drone strikes aimed at killing people. This loophole was closed last week," wrote the American billionaire.
Significance for the front line
The founder of SpaceX noted that "Starlink remains critical to Ukraine’s defence, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or destroyed – at least not yet".
According to him, if Starlink were to be completely shut down, the Ukrainian front line "would collapse immediately". He noted that this was "not a threat, but simply a statement of fact".
On the company’s contribution
"Starlink also played a decisive role in preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war, when all other means of communication had been destroyed or jammed by Russia. SpaceX has done far more to defend Ukraine than any other private company on Earth. FAR more. At the same time, I feel nothing but ABSOLUTE CONTEMPT for the hypocritical, evil warmongers who advocate endless slaughter without offering any realistic solutions to the conflict. Burn in hell. That’s all," wrote Musk.
Restrictions on Starlink’s operations in Ukraine
- On 14 October, volunteer and former adviser to the Minister of Defence Serhiy Sternenko stated that, during the night, SpaceX had restricted the operation of Starlink terminals for the Ukrainian military. As a result, he said, "several important missions were disrupted". The restrictions were imposed on data transmission depending on the speed of the UAVs using Starlink.
- This information was subsequently confirmed by Serhiy Beskrestnov (Flash). According to him, the restrictions may also complicate the use of drones designed to intercept jet-powered ‘shahids’.
- Units of the 7th Airborne Corps also reported that they began to experience problems with Starlink connectivity in the Huliaipole sector last night. This concerns the Starshield package – the so-called military package, which previously had no data transmission speed restrictions.
- Later, former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that network operations were being restored at speeds of up to 160 km/h.
- Meanwhile, Elon Musk stated that he does not set the limits for Starshield, which Ukraine uses. This system is controlled by the US government, not SpaceX.
- According to Reuters, the order to restrict Starshield for Ukraine came from the White House.
- On 16 October, US President Trump stated that Washington was not involved in slowing down the ‘military package’ of the Starlink (Starshield) satellite communications system for the Ukrainian military.
- On 19 October, Zelenskyy reported that in various sectors of the front line, Ukrainian military equipment fitted with the Starlink system ceases to function at speeds of 130–161 kilometres per hour.
- Hegset stated that the Pentagon had not issued any orders to restrict Starshield.
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Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had phoned Musk and asked him to lift the restrictions on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine, whilst on Thursday Trump said that "the main thing is that he’s put everything back to normal" and declined to comment on whether he had phoned Musk.
- On 22 October, Trump refused to say whether he had telephoned SpaceX owner Elon Musk regarding the speed restrictions on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine.
- According to Politico, as of the morning of Friday 23 October, the Ukrainian military were still facing Starlink speed restrictions, despite Trump’s announcement that the services had resumed full operation.
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On
24 October,
the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence stated that Starlink terminals and their military variants, StarShield, from SpaceX were once again operating at speeds exceeding 161 km/h.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the resumption of Starlink services for Ukraine.
