Musk says SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink connection as service restored

What the report says

Elon Musk said SpaceX had restricted Ukraine’s use of Starlink, after Ukrainian officials reported that the service’s connectivity problems had eased. In comments posted on X, Musk said the company closed what he described as a loophole that allowed Starlink, a civilian service, to be used for offensive drone strikes. He said Ukraine had violated the terms of service, while denying responsibility for a separate issue involving Starshield, SpaceX’s more secure system used by the US government and military partners.

The BBC reported that Kyiv has not officially responded to Musk’s latest assertion, although Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov called the post unusual. Earlier, Musk had denied intentionally throttling the service. The dispute comes amid broader tensions between Washington and Kyiv over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

Ukrainian officials said the connection had returned to normal. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said the military was again seeing a stable connection, and President Volodymyr Zelensky said speeds were now where they needed to be. Musk did not explain why the change was made last week, even though Ukraine has relied on Starlink for battlefield communications for years.

The episode highlights how important SpaceX’s satellite networks have become in the war. Starlink supports coordination for Ukrainian units, especially in remote areas, while Starshield is used for more secure military functions. The BBC also noted that the timing overlapped with reported political pressure from the US on Kyiv over attacks inside Russia.