Ukraine has disputed Elon Musk's claim that its military violated the terms of use for Starlink, the satellite internet service run by SpaceX. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, rejected the claim in remarks reported on Monday, October 26, saying the operational limits on Starlink in Ukraine would have made the kind of strikes Musk described "physically impossible."
Musk said on Saturday, October 24, that the Ukrainian military had used Starlink "for offensive drone strikes to kill people," in contravention of the terms of use. He had previously blamed the decision to throttle Kyiv's access to high-speed service on the White House. Beskrestnov said it was "very strange" that Musk was unaware of those limits, noting that Starlink's civilian system in Ukraine does not function over Russian territory.
Ukraine said over the weekend that its access to high-speed Starlink and Starshield satellite communications had been restored. The reporting available so far does not say whether SpaceX has responded to Beskrestnov's comments, or what evidence Musk has offered for his allegation about specific strikes. The accounts rely on public statements from both sides rather than an independent assessment of how the terminals were used.
The dispute comes as Zelensky said a three-way meeting involving US, Ukrainian and Russian officials would take place in November, and said Ukraine was ready for talks between technical groups. Whether the Starlink disagreement will affect those discussions has not been reported.
This dispatch is based on a public report by The Independent World. We label it reported; a report is not an independent confirmation.
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