Elon Musk accuses Ukraine of violating Starlink rules and threatens to shut down the service

Raluca Ioana Draghici

25 October 2026, 08:37

International

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Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, accused Ukraine of violating the terms of use of the Starlink network and warned that the service could be shut down if these rules are not observed. The statement was made on Saturday on the X platform, after several days during which the speed of connections used by Ukraine had been limited.

Musk argued that Starlink is a civilian system, not a means of killing, and stated that any violation of the terms of use could lead to the termination of the service. At the same time, he said that the network remains crucial to Ukraine’s defense, being, in his view, the only system that cannot be jammed or destroyed.

Kyiv uses Starlink and the military version, Starshield, for communications, logistics, drone operations, and coordinating the defense against Russian attacks. Ukraine complained that, in recent days, the terminals had been limited to speeds of over 160 km/h, which allegedly particularly affected military drones.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian Defense Minister announced that the service had become stable again, with speeds of over 400 km/h. President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Washington of being behind the restrictions, but the White House and SpaceX denied responsibility. Tensions increased after the public exchanges of criticism between Zelensky and Donald Trump.

Context: Before Musk’s accusations, Ukraine reported Starlink restrictions that affected missions and called for Elon Musk’s intervention

A few days before Elon Musk spoke about shutting down the service, the Ukrainian military reported interruptions and limitations of the Starlink connection on the night of October 14, including for critical missions, while supporters of Serghei Sternenko (a former adviser to the defense minister) claimed that the restriction had been requested by President Donald Trump’s administration. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Elon Musk in an interview to restore the services, warning that if the attacks continued and the network did not return, “people would die.”

During the same period, Elon Musk rejected the idea that the restrictions had been decided by SpaceX, saying that any slowdown/limitation of the Starshield network would depend on the U.S. government, not the company. At the same time, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski publicly asked on X whether Musk was using Starlink for political purposes, after Kyiv reported disruptions related to the use of Starlink for drone missions.