Elon Musk explains why Starlink services were restricted in Ukraine: ‘Violated terms of service’
Even as Starlink services were restored in Ukraine following days of tensions with the United States (US), SpaceX founder Elon Musk said on Saturday that Kyiv had it for offensive operations that should never be allowed, as it remains a civilian commercial service.
Musk, the world’s first trillionaire, said Starlink should never be allowed for offensive drone strikes to kill people, accusing Ukraine’s military of violating its terms of service, forcing him to slowdown it services.
However, he underlined that Starshield is controlled by the US government, and it is up to them “what they decide to do” with it.
“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,” he said on X. “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.”
Though Musk has acknowledged that Starlink was also crucial to preventing Russia from overrunning Ukraine in the early days of the war. Further, he said SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company.
“That said, I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict. May you burn in hell. End of story,” he concluded.
Starlink services restored in Ukraine
Musk’s remarks came as Ukraine said Starlink services have been restored and the country again has a “stable connection”. In a statement, Defence Minister Yevgeniy Khmara described the restoration as “very important” and said it would be key to protecting Ukraine from rocket-powered drones and prove to be significant to maintaining logistics.
“Monitoring systems are recording a recovery in the speed of Starlink/Starshield. We are registering a speed of more than 400 km/h, the connection is stable,” he said. “This result is above all important for our front, for our soldiers, for the operation of drones, for logistics and for communications.”
Ukraine had earlier blamed the Trump administration of helping the Russians, alleging Starlink’s speed was throttled and it thereby failed warning Ukraine of incoming missile strikes. Following Ukraine’s allegations, Trump said he would speak to Musk about the issue.
Khmara has credited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “firm stance” on the issue, judging that it was “bearing fruit”.
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