Musk accuses Ukraine of breaching Starlink terms as Kyiv reports restored connection

Musk's accusation

Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, said on Saturday, 24 October, that the Ukrainian army had used Starlink for offensive drone strikes aimed at killing people, which breaches the terms of use of the satellite internet service. He posted the claim on X and said the loophole behind it had been closed in the week before his post. In his account the terms are built for a civil system rather than a means of killing, and any breach would lead to the service being switched off.

Musk also argued that Starlink remains decisive for Ukraine's defence and described it as the only system that, for now, cannot be jammed or destroyed. In a second post he warned that the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately if the service were turned off. He added that Starshield, the military version of the network, is controlled by the US government, and that what Washington decides to do with it is its own affair. The post came on the same day Ukraine announced its connection had been restored, a few hours after the system was officially relaunched in the country, according to BFMTV.

Speed caps and their lifting

Ukraine had spent more than a week under limits on Starlink and Starshield, with terminals slowed above 160 km/h. Drones flying faster than that threshold lost their connection, which complicated military operations and the interception of Russian attack drones. On Saturday Kyiv said monitoring systems at the defence ministry recorded a recovery in speed, with the link running above 400 km/h and the connection stable. Defence minister Ievguén Khmara, whose name appears as Jewhenij Chmara in German-language reporting, said the result matters above all for the front, soldiers, drone operations, logistics and communications. NRC reported that the restrictions had been lifted and that connections were working at full speed again.

Dispute over who imposed the limits

It remains unclear who ordered the restrictions. Zelensky had accused Washington of being behind them and of not warning Kyiv in time, while the Trump government and Musk himself denied being responsible for the slowdowns. Musk has changed position several times on Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022, but he has consistently said that any malfunction is the responsibility of the US government and not of SpaceX. US media pointed both to the White House and to Musk. NRC reports that the limits coincided with American pressure on Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries. Republicans and Democrats have both called for an inquiry into how SpaceX restricted the service in Ukraine.

Zelensky has said Ukraine uses Starlink only to repel Russian drones and has rejected any offensive use of it. Musk's accusation runs directly against that account.

Timeline and next steps

The timeline starts more than a week before 24 October, when the speed caps took hold. Musk's post and Ukraine's report of a stable connection both arrived on Saturday. Ukraine's army also said it will observe a truce from Tuesday, 27 October, in Olechky, a town in Kherson region under Russian occupation, to allow a humanitarian operation there. The ceasefire is framed as a step needed to carry out that operation.