Elon Musk claims Ukraine violated Starlink terms of service before recent slowdown, as previously reported Ars Technique. According to Musk, “the Ukrainian military violated Starlink’s terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week,” however, Ukrainian officials have denied that that happened, or that it was actually possible for them to do so.
The statement comes nearly two weeks after Ukrainian officials accused SpaceX of placing limits on the military’s satellite internet service that disrupted its drone missions and operations. As reported by axiosUkraine uses Starlink for communications, logistics and defense against incoming drones. For offensive missions, officials say Ukraine uses Starshield, the Starlink variant controlled by the US military.
Musk points to a post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which said Ukraine uses “Starlink in medium-range attacks against enemy military targets,” in violation of Starlink policies. However, Serhii Beskrestnov, Zelenskyy’s defense technology advisor, rejected this in a post on Telegram, saying that Starlink systems can only connect to devices traveling between 70 and 90 kilometers per hour (about 43 and 55 miles per hour) and do not work in Russia. “Therefore, we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep or medium-range attacks,” Beskrestnov wrote.
Ars Technique He also points to a tweet from another former Ukrainian advisor, Serhii Sternenko, who went into further detail, saying that while stationary terminals could be registered (with Starlink) by military personnel or civilians, “in order for any satellite terminal to work while in motion, it had to be added to a special list and connected to the military Starshield system… In other words, using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible. All drone missions requiring satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield services had been fully restored. With the restriction lifted, the Ukrainian military can now connect to devices traveling at speeds of more than 400 km/h (248 mph), the Kyiv Independent information.
