Elon Musk accuses Ukraine of breaching Starlink rules as dispute deepens

SpaceX chief Elon Musk has accused Ukraine’s military of violating Starlink’s terms of service by using the satellite internet network for offensive drone strikes. Musk commented after Ukrainian officials said the service and its military counterpart, Starshield, had returned to the speeds required for operations.

In a post on X on 24 October, Musk said Ukraine had used Starlink “for offensive drone strikes to kill people” and claimed that the loophole had been closed the previous week. He did not publicly identify the specific contractual provisions allegedly violated or provide technical evidence substantiating the accusation.

The remarks followed more than a week of reported restrictions that Ukrainian officials said had disrupted military operations, including efforts to intercept Russian attack drones. Ukraine’s defence ministry said connection speeds had returned to normal levels, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the services were operating at the speeds needed by the military.

The circumstances surrounding the restrictions have been disputed.

Reuters reported that sources traced an order to limit Starshield speeds to within the White House. Musk had previously said that Starshield, which is controlled by the US government, was subject to decisions by the US military and ultimately the president. Starlink, the commercial satellite internet service operated by SpaceX, is a separate system, although both have been used in Ukraine.

Musk’s latest comments also come against the backdrop of earlier disagreements over Ukraine’s use of the service. In 2022, he proposed a peace plan that included recognising Crimea as part of Russia and holding votes in Russian-occupied territories under international supervision. Ukrainian officials criticised the proposal as too favourable to Moscow.

In September 2022, Musk said he had refused a Ukrainian request to activate Starlink near the Crimean port of Sevastopol to support an attack on the Russian fleet, arguing that doing so could make SpaceX complicit in a major act of war.

An initial account in a biography by Walter Isaacson suggesting that Musk had switched off existing coverage was subsequently corrected: Isaacson said coverage had not been enabled in the area in the first place.

In February 2023, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the company had taken steps to prevent Ukraine from using Starlink for certain offensive military purposes, including drone attacks. Her remarks established that the company had concerns about offensive use, but did not verify the specific allegation Musk has now made.

A Reuters investigation published in July 2025 separately reported, citing three people familiar with the matter, that Musk had ordered Starlink coverage disabled in parts of Ukraine during a counteroffensive against Russian forces in 2022. SpaceX disputed that account, without specifying which details it considered inaccurate.

In his latest post, Musk also argued that Starlink remained essential to Ukraine’s defence and that shutting it down would cause the front line to collapse. He credited SpaceX with helping Ukraine maintain communications during the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion, while condemning those he accused of advocating continued fighting without proposing a realistic settlement.

Musk’s allegation that Ukraine violated Starlink’s terms of service has not been independently established in the public evidence cited in the report. The precise circumstances of the restrictions, the division of responsibility between SpaceX and the US government, and the evidence for the alleged breach remain important questions in the dispute.