Elon Musk says SpaceX closed Ukraine Starlink ‘loophole’ after limits hit drone operations

Elon Musk has said his company imposed limits on the use of its Starlink satellite system in Ukraine last week, after curbs led to disruption to Ukrainian military operations. Ukraine said Saturday that both Starlink, run by Musk’s SpaceX, and its military variant Starshield were now fully functional after the long outage, two days after President Donald Trump indicated Musk had been asked to “put it back.” In a series of posts on X on Saturday night into Sunday morning, Musk accused Ukraine of violating “Starlink terms of service” by using it for offensive drone strikes. “That loophole was closed last week,” the billionaire wrote. “Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” he added. In a separate post, he said: “We simply enforced our terms of service when they were bypassed.” SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Musk nor the United States government ​had initially taken responsibility for imposing the curbs last week, with Musk saying with respect to Starshield that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Starlink technology has been critical to frontline communications and Ukraine’s ability to intercept jet-powered drones since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 2022. Ukraine does not rely on the systems for long-range drone operations within Russia, though it is used for military operations in Ukrainian territories unlawfully annexed by Russia. Ukrainian officials said the restrictions were imposed without warning and capped Starshield operations at speeds of 100 mph, hampering the military’s ability to intercept drones and forcing the cancellation of some operations. “Starlink remains critical to the defense of Ukraine, as it is the only system that cannot be jammed or blown up, at least for now,” Musk said. “Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.” In a series of posts and replies, he called his critics “bloodthirsty warmongers” who “want the war to continue until every last man in Ukraine has died in a ditch.” Hours later, responding to an X user comment that said “Zelensky needs to go,” Musk responded: “Yes.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Starlink speeds started returning to normal on Saturday night. Ukraine’s defense ministry said Saturday that the connection remained stable at over 250mph. The Ukrainian military does not disclose the systems’ maximum operating speeds. Russia has barraged Ukraine over the past week, Zelenskyy said on Sunday, though he did not draw any direct link to the limitations. “This past week alone, Russia has launched around 1,600 guided aerial bombs, 48 missiles of various types, including ballistic missiles, and nearly 2,300 attack drones against Ukraine. Unfortunately, almost every day, these brutal strikes leave people killed and injured,” he said in a post on X. The restrictions on Starlink services last week came amid a souring of relations between the White House and Ukraine, after President Donald Trump agreed to a diesel deal with Russia, waived sweeping sanctions, and called for Ukraine to get a new president. In a response to Musk on Sunday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said Sunday that “It’s very strange that Elon Musk doesn’t know about the restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine.” “Starlink does not work over Russian territory,” he said in a post on Telegram. “So we PHYSICALLY CANNOT USE COMMERCIAL STARLINK for deep strikes and mid-range strikes.” The disruptions to the Starlink service coincided with what Ukrainian officials described as a temporary interruption to U.S. intelligence warnings about incoming Russian attacks. Zelenskyy told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last week that U.S. intelligence sharing was briefly “blocked,” blinding Ukraine to incoming ballistic missiles. Asked whether he thought Trump or Musk had directly made the decision to limit Starlink, Zelenskyy said he did not know but thought “both” were involved. He said that if Trump decided tomorrow to lift the restriction, “it will immediately work as it was before.” Asked whether he spoke to Musk on Thursday, Trump said: “I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn’t make any difference, I guess. The bottom line — he put it back.” Before the latest collapse in relations with Washington, Ukraine’s military had been chipping away at land seized by Russia in the eastern Donetsk region, part of the Donbas heartland that the Kremlin has been struggling to fully capture. In one major operation, more than 100 square miles of territory and 16 settlements have been reclaimed, Ukrainian officials have said, crediting methods like using bomber drones to fly robot vehicles behind enemy lines.