Musk says US controls limits on Ukraine’s military satellite service

Elon Musk says the US government, not his company, controls limits on a military satellite service after Ukrainian officials reported that new speed restrictions had disrupted drone operations during Russian attacks.

Ukrainian officials said terminals travelling faster than 100 mph (160 km/h) lost connectivity overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. The change affected missions that rely on satellite internet, including efforts to guide drones toward Russian targets and defend against incoming attacks. Defence technology adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said it also disrupted frontline logistics and long-distance missions.

Ukraine was “deprived of one of the few chances to defend itself from Shahed drones,” Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram, according to Al Jazeera. He said the timing “cannot be a coincidence,” linking the restrictions to strains between Kyiv and Washington. Al Jazeera reported that another Ukrainian official accused Washington of throttling the service and helping Russia.

Musk responded on X after Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, called for connectivity to be restored. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” he wrote. He added that Starlink is intended for “civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

Both Starlink and Starshield belong to Musk’s SpaceX. Starlink provides satellite internet as a civilian service; Starshield is designed for government and military use. The US government has not commented on Musk’s account of who imposed the limits.

“I hope that it’s a mistake, maybe huge technical problem. I don’t know, but we are asking to… switch (it) on,” Zelensky told UK media. By Wednesday evening, connectivity had been partially restored, Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said. He thanked Musk but wrote that “Removing Starshield’s speed limit entirely is now critical for Ukraine’s defense.”

The disruption coincided with Russian strikes on Kyiv and Ukrainian energy and communications facilities. Al Jazeera reported that ballistic missile attacks over two nights killed at least nine people. The BBC reported that at least 600,000 people across Ukraine lost electricity. Zelensky said Ukraine had not received its usual warnings from Western allies about incoming attacks, without identifying which partners.

The satellite dispute unfolded amid wider tensions over Ukraine policy. Zelensky has said the US threatened to restrict intelligence sharing unless he agreed to President Donald Trump’s proposed energy ceasefire; Trump denied that allegation on Tuesday and said the US had not stopped sharing intelligence. Asked during a visit to London whether he felt betrayed by a US deal to import 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel, Zelensky replied: “Really yes… but it’s a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or my feelings.”

Poland, which pays for Ukrainian Starlink subscriptions, also challenged Musk. “Hey Elon Musk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again?” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on X.