Musk accuses Ukraine of violating Starlink’s terms of service

Elon Musk has stated that SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink internet service because the Ukrainian military violated terms of service by using the civilian commercial network for offensive drone strikes. According to BBC World and BBC News, Musk denied responsibility for a simultaneous issue with Starshield, the company's military-grade counterpart. Musk wrote on X that the loophole allowing the use of Starlink for offensive strikes was closed last week.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on 24 October that military satellite links are working at full speed again after a cap had previously hobbled drones. While Ukraine had previously stated that connections on both Starlink and Starshield cut out above 161 km/h (100 mph), the ministry recorded stable connections above 400 km/h (250 mph). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted the restoration began overnight and said the speeds are now sufficient for defending against jet-powered Shahed drones.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov described Musk's claims as "very strange," and a drone volunteer replied that civilian Starlink could not fly such missions. BBC World reported that Musk had earlier denied deliberately throttling the connection, which Ukraine says hampered defensive operations for more than a week. These connectivity issues emerged during a row regarding Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, BBC World, BBC News, Punch, Euromaidan Press — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.