Musk says Ukraine military 'violated Starlink terms of service,' leading to speed limits

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that his company SpaceX had placed limits on the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine due to violations of its terms of service.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that Ukraine’s access to Starlink and the restrictions on the speed had been lifted.

“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote on X. “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.”

Musk said the U.S. government has control over changes to Starshield, which is the military-grade version of Starlink.

"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. Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately," Musk wrote. "This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact. Starlink was also crucial to preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war, as all other means of communication were destroyed or jammed by Russia."