KYIV: Tech tycoon Elon Musk accused Ukraine on Saturday of violating Starlink’s terms of service by using it for “drone strikes to kill people”, after tension between Washington and Kyiv over disruptions to the SpaceX-made network crucial to the Ukrainian army’s operations.
“Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people,” Musk wrote in a post on X, but added that that loophole was closed last week.
“Starlink’s terms have remained consistent as a civilian system, not a means of killing. Violation of those terms will result in end of service,” he wrote in another post.
He added that Starlink remained “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.”
While Musk has shifted stance on Ukraine many times since Russia’s invasion in 2022, he has insisted that any disruption was the responsibility of the US government, not SpaceX.
Kyiv relies on the civilian Starlink satellite communications system and the military-grade Starshield version as it tries to defend itself from Russian missile and drone attacks.
“Monitoring systems are recording a recovery in the speed of Starlink/Starshield. We are registering a speed of more than 400 km/h, the connection is stable,” Defence Minister Yevgeniy Khmara said in a statement on Saturday.
“This result is above all important for our front, for our soldiers, for the operation of drones, for logistics and for communications,” he added.
“Right now, the speed is what we need. The restoration began during the night,” he said on social media.
“This is very important; it’s significant for our frontline logistics, for protecting Ukraine” from rocket-powered drones, he stressed.
The satellite network has been at the centre of a row between Ukraine and the United States.
Zelensky had accused Washington of helping Russia by failing to warn Kyiv of incoming missile strikes and hobbling its military response by throttling Starlink’s speed.
Khmara credited Zelensky’s “firm stance” on the issue, judging that it was “bearing fruit”.