Elon Musk confirmed on Saturday, October 24, that SpaceX had deliberately slowed Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, a move that disrupted military operations for about a week. Writing on X, Musk said Ukraine's military had violated Starlink's terms of service by using the civilian service for offensive drone strikes. "That loophole was closed last week," he wrote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the same day that speeds across both Starlink and Starshield, the defense-focused variant, had returned to previous levels after overnight upgrades. Zelenskyy said the improvements helped stabilise military supply lines and strengthen countermeasures against Russian Shahed drones. Before the restoration, Ukrainian officials and military personnel had raised alarm, with commanders reporting lost drones and interrupted missions.
Uncertainty over who authorised the slowdown had grown during the past week. Musk said the U.S. government directed adjustments to Starshield. The source does not include a government statement confirming that claim, so it remains Musk's account. He also defended SpaceX's support for Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The episode unfolds during fresh U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the war. Russia agreed on Wednesday to resume trilateral talks with Washington and Kyiv next month. On Friday, both sides accepted a local ceasefire around Oleshky, a damaged, Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's Kherson region, brokered by first lady Melania Trump. The Independent reports that the restriction added to existing tensions between Kyiv and Washington, which it links to a reported Trump deal with Moscow on Russian diesel imports. The source does not detail that arrangement, and the article does not establish a direct link between it and the Starlink decision.
This dispatch is based on a public report by The Independent World. We label it confirmed; a report is not an independent confirmation.
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