Musk Says Ukraine Broke Starlink Rules, Claims Loophole Is Closed

Elon Musk has publicly addressed the recent restrictions on Starlink access in Ukraine, saying the Ukrainian military broke the terms of use for the satellite communications system. The SpaceX owner made the remarks in a post on X.

"Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be," Musk wrote. He added that Ukraine's military had used the service for such strikes and that "that loophole was closed last week."

Musk also drew a line between Starlink and Starshield, describing the latter as a separate system controlled by the US government. "What they decide to do is up to them," he wrote.

At the same time, he stressed how much Ukraine depends on the network. According to Musk, Starlink remains critical to Ukraine's defence because 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," he said, adding that this was "NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact." He also argued that Starlink helped stop Russia from occupying Ukraine in the early stages of the war, after Russia destroyed or jammed all other means of communication.

Musk went on to say SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth "BY FAR." He then expressed what he called "UTTER CONTEMPT" for people he described as virtue-signalling warmongers who push for endless slaughter without offering a realistic solution to the conflict.

His comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that restrictions on Starlink and Starshield had been lifted as of the morning of 24 October. Zelenskyy thanked everyone who helped restore communications in Ukraine.

The dispute has unfolded over roughly a week. On 16 October, US President Donald Trump claimed the White House had not been involved in restricting Ukraine's use of the system. The Telegraph reported that Musk had approached Trump with the idea of limiting the bandwidth of the Starlink and Starshield networks used by the Ukrainian military.

On 19 October, Zelenskyy said Starlink and Starshield equipment had stopped working at speeds of 130 to 161 km/h in various sectors of the line of contact. He said this disrupted logistics and limited Ukraine's use of drones.

After reports of the speed reduction became public on 21 October, Musk wrote that "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS." The Wall Street Journal, however, reported that Musk had ordered the speed of the military version of Starlink to be reduced in Ukraine, leaving some Ukrainian attack and interceptor drones practically unusable. On 22 October, the newspaper reported that Trump had called Musk and asked him to lift the restrictions on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine.