Musk says SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink connection as service restored

Elon Musk says SpaceX restricted Ukraine’s Starlink service last week because Ukrainian forces used the civilian network for offensive drone strikes, which he says breach its terms of service. He says the restriction closed a loophole, while arguing Starlink can still support military infrastructure and communications. Musk denied responsibility for problems with Starshield, a separate, more secure system controlled by the US government. Ukraine has not officially responded to his latest allegation, but presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov disputed its premise: he says Starlink-connected drones in Ukraine are speed-limited and cannot operate inside Russia, making them unsuitable for deep or medium-range strikes.

Ukrainian officials now report a stable connection and say drones can again reach operational speeds above 400km/h; previously, Kyiv said the link cut out above 161km/h. Starlink is important for battlefield coordination, while Starshield supports tasks such as live targeting and interceptor-drone operations. The outage coincided with a diplomatic dispute over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil facilities. President Donald Trump said he had asked Musk to restore service, though he denied ordering the restrictions; Zelensky also said Washington had threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing unless the strikes stopped, which Trump denied. The episode highlights Ukraine’s reliance on SpaceX’s satellite networks and the consequences of a private company’s control over communications essential to its military.