Musk accuses Ukraine of violating Starlink’s terms of service following dispute over coverage

Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has accused Ukraine’s military of violating Starlink’s terms of service, a day after Kyiv said that access to the service had been restored.

In a post on X Saturday, Musk said that Ukraine’s armed forces had “violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people.”

“That loophole was closed last week,” he added, referring to the restrictions temporarily placed on the service last week which limited speeds to 100 miles per hour. Musk also maintained that Starshield is a separate system controlled by the US government.

Musk also underscored Ukraine’s reliance on the service, saying it “remains critical to the defense of Ukraine” and claimed that if Starlink were turned off, “the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately.”

Zelensky’s adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov disputed Musk’s accusation that Ukraine is using the commercial service to kill people, saying speed restrictions and the service’s unavailability over Russian territory made Ukraine “physically unable to use commercial Starlink” for medium- and long-range strikes into Russia.

Serhiy Sternenko, a former Ukrainian Ministry of Defense adviser, also denied Musk’s claims. “As someone who was involved in the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true,” Sternenko said.

Echoing Beskrestnov’s claims, he said, “It was technically impossible to use the civilian Starlink system for drone missions. All drone missions requiring satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.”

Ukraine’s defense ministry said Saturday that full access to Starlink and Starshield was restored. It came after US President Donald Trump said he asked Musk to lift restrictions on Kyiv’s use of the military grade version of the Musk-owned Starlink internet service.

“The Ministry of Defense’s monitoring systems are recording a recovery in Starlink/Starshield speeds,” Ukrainian Minister of Defense Yevheniy Khmara said in a statement, adding that restored speeds exceeding 400 kilometers per hour were being recorded.

For more than a week, Ukraine had faced a speed limit on the Starshield satellite terminals used by its military, hindering its ability to intercept fast-moving Russian drones.

Trump and his top officials have denied making the call to throttle Ukraine’s use of Starshield, which limited speeds to 100 mph, according to Ukrainian officials.

Musk said the Trump administration was behind the ban in a post to social media last week.

It comes as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine continued overnight. According to Ukrainian authorities, over 153 Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were launched at Ukraine from Russia, mainly targeting large department stores and warehouses. At least three people were killed in the UAV strikes and 25 others were injured.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said at least two were killed and 22 injured in Ukrainian attacks. 532 UAVs fired from Ukraine were intercepted, the MoD said, adding that industrial sites were hit in multiple regions.

德米特罗·斯莫连科/Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images

SpaceX 首席执行官埃隆·马斯克指责乌克兰军方违反了 Starlink 的服务条款，此前一天，基辅方面表示已恢复了对该服务的访问。

马斯克周六在 X 上发帖称，乌克兰武装部队“违反了星链服务条款，并将其用于进攻性无人机袭击以杀害民众”。

他补充说：“那个漏洞上周已经堵上了。”他指的是上周对该服务实施的临时限制，将速度限制在每小时100英里。马斯克还坚称，星盾是一个由美国政府控制的独立系统。

马斯克还强调了乌克兰对这项服务的依赖，称其“对乌克兰的国防仍然至关重要”，并声称如果星链服务关闭，“乌克兰前线将立即崩溃”。

泽连斯基的顾问谢尔盖·别斯克列斯特诺夫反驳了马斯克关于乌克兰利用商业服务杀人的指控，称速度限制以及该服务在俄罗斯领土上不可用，使得乌克兰“实际上无法使用商业星链”对俄罗斯进行中远程打击。

乌克兰国防部前顾问谢尔盖·斯特年科也否认了马斯克的说法。斯特年科说：“作为国防部相关流程的参与者，我可以肯定地说，这不是真的。”

他呼应了贝斯克列斯特诺夫的说法，说道：“从技术上讲，使用民用星链系统执行无人机任务是不可能的。所有需要卫星通信的无人机任务都只能使用星盾系统来完成。”

乌克兰国防部周六表示，已全面恢复对星链（Starlink）和星盾（Starshield）服务的访问。此前，美国总统特朗普表示，他已要求马斯克解除对基辅使用其旗下军用级星链互联网服务的限制。

乌克兰国防部长叶夫根尼·赫马拉在一份声明中表示：“国防部的监控系统记录到星链/星盾的速度正在恢复。”他还补充说，目前记录到的恢复速度已超过每小时 400 公里。

一个多星期以来，乌克兰军方使用的“星盾”卫星终端一直受到速度限制，这阻碍了乌克兰拦截快速移动的俄罗斯无人机的能力。

据乌克兰官员称，特朗普及其高级官员否认曾下令限制乌克兰使用“星盾”导弹防御系统，该系统将导弹速度限制在每小时 100 英里。

马斯克上周在社交媒体上发帖称，特朗普政府是这项禁令的幕后推手。

与此同时，俄罗斯对乌克兰的袭击仍在继续。据乌克兰当局称，超过153架俄罗斯无人机从俄罗斯境内起飞，袭击乌克兰，主要目标是大型百货商店和仓库。无人机袭击造成至少3人死亡，另有25人受伤。

与此同时，俄罗斯国防部表示，乌克兰发动的袭击造成至少两人死亡，22人受伤。国防部称，拦截了532架从乌克兰发射的无人机，并补充说，多个地区的工业设施遭到袭击。