Elon Musk claimed that Ukraine breached Starlink’s terms of service by using it for offensive strikes.
Ukraine has also announced partnerships involving Norway, finland’s telecommunications company nokia and satellite manufacturer ICEYE as part of efforts to develop alternatives. He argued that existing operational restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine would have made the type of attacks described by the SpaceX chief technically impossible.
Poland’s deputy defence minister Cezary Tomczyk discussed his country’s plans in an episode of the podcast influence zone earlier this month. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on defence technology, disputed Musk’s explanation in a telegram post on Sunday, according to CNBC news report.
Musk had earlier suggested in a social media post that the US government was responsible, but US president Donald Trump said he was unaware of the decision. Ukrainian officials have also said the restrictions were imposed by Starlink or the US without advance warning, catching the country off guard. Starlink is spacex’s commercial satellite internet network, while Starshield is a military-oriented system designed for government and national security applications using technology developed for Starlink. Before Musk publicly acknowledged restricting the systems, uncertainty surrounded the decision and who had ordered the changes.
Musk has not publicly explained why Ukraine was reportedly not notified before the changes took effect.
He also said Ukrainian drones using the technology had been subject to speed limits of 70 to 90 kmph (43 to 56 mph) for several months.
Ukrainian officials have previously said the restrictions disrupted military drone operations and weakened the country’s ability to defend itself against Russian attacks. Beskrestnov questioned Musk’s understanding of how the system operates in Ukraine, pointing out that Starlink’s civilian service does not work inside Russian territory. Kyiv had blamed the service disruption for affecting its drone-based air defence capabilities amid repeated Russian aerial attacks.
Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that high-speed connectivity through spacex’s starlink and starshield satellite communication systems had been restored.