Musk says SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink connection as service restored Elon Musk has said his company SpaceX restricted Ukraine's Starlink internet service, after Ukrainian officials said connectivity issues appeared to have been resolved. The tech billionaire accused Ukraine of violating its terms of service by using it for military activity - but denied being responsible for a simultaneous issue with its US-run, military-grade counterpart Starshield. Kyiv has not officially commented on Musk's latest claim but Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said his post was very strange. Musk had earlier denied deliberately throttling Ukraine's connection, which it says hampered its ability to conduct defensive operations. The issue first emerged last week during a broader row between Washington and Kyiv over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

Elon Musk says SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company, claiming Ukraine violated Starlink terms of service with deadly drone strikes.

Why is Ukraine so reliant on Starlink and can Europe plug the gap? Ukraine is in desperate need of a new satellite internet service, but a fast and reliable alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink network simply doesn't exist - yet. Last week's sudden slowdown of the service in Ukraine, which affected Kyiv's ability to defend itself from Russian attacks, has shown how vulnerable the country can be, and sharply increased Europe's urgency to have its own military-grade satellite network. There are a few alternatives, but they are all lagging behind Starlink, which is the world's largest satellite constellation. France's Eutelsat, with its OneWeb internet service, is the main alternative - but it only has about 600 active satellites, compared to Starlink's 10,000-plus.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk hold a news conference at the White House in Washington in May 2025. Kyiv - Ukraine said on Saturday that the Starlink satellite system and its military version Starshield were now fully functional after over a week of restrictions that disrupted military operations and intensified tensions with the U.S. But hours later, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company owns Starlink, accused the Ukrainian military of violating the company's terms. Neither Musk nor the U.S. government, which operates Starshield using Starlink technology, had taken responsibility for imposing the curbs. "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," Musk said on X. Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said on the Telegram app that the country is "physically unable" to use Starlink for long-and medium-range attack drone operations.

Ukraine says Starlink connection'now stable' after network limits Image caption, Ukraine's military uses the network of 10,000 low Earth orbit satellites extensively for military operations Ukraine now has a stable connection to Starlink, its defence minister has said, after its military suffered days of restricted connectivity on the satellite network. Kyiv relies on the Starlink and its military-grade counterpart Starshield for piloting drones and operations within Ukraine, but last week accused US President Donald Trump of telling owner Elon Musk to place limits on it. This meant drones would lose connection when travelling at 161km/h (100mph) or more, it said. Trump denied doing so before saying Musk had put it back. Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said that speeds of more than 400km/h were now possible on the network, indicating that full capability had been restored.

Trump says Musk has restored access to Ukraine's Starlink network To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Figure caption, Watch: Trump says Musk has restored Ukraine's Starlink internet access after row Elon Musk has restored Ukraine's Starlink internet access, US President Donald Trump has said after restrictions hampered Kyiv's armed forces. Trump made the comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said connectivity to the military-grade Starshield network, which is provided by Musk's satellite-based Starlink system, had yet to be fully restored. Musk previously denied he was behind the slowdown, which affects Ukraine's ability to use drones to attack Russia and protect itself from attacks. Trump refused to be drawn on a report that he had called Musk to ask him to lift restrictions to the service, but when asked about it he said: Bottom line, he put it back.

Ukrainians have died because Kyiv is still not receiving reliable US warnings of incoming Russian attacks, according to a key adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Serhii Flash Beskrestnov told the BBC that lives had been lost because there had not been time to warn citizens about ballistic missile strikes, saying: It's dangerous... I think it's really very bad... The adviser also said restrictions to Ukraine's use of the Starlink internet network were ongoing. The White House said there had been no changes to intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Is the war entering a new phase? At least one person has been killed, and five others injured after Ukraine launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia, one of Kyiv's largest aerial strikes in the war. St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said firefighters were battling fires sparked by Sunday's attacks on the St Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil depot and industrial warehouses in the Kolpinsky district south of the city. The attack disrupted flights at St Petersburg's main airport, one of the country's busiest, which was restricting operations "for safety reasons", Beglov said. Russian e-commerce company Ozon said there was a fire at its logistics hub in St Petersburg.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A Russian man secretly working for Ukraine's intelligence services has shared videos of surveillance work he says he has done for Kyiv inside Russia. The man, who we are calling Ivan, claims to have played a role in Ukrainian drone attacks on strategic bombers and munitions factories on his home soil. He features in a BBC World Service documentary about the shadowy world of Russian saboteurs. Ivan was cautious about how much detail he shared, making it impossible to verify the activities he claims to have carried out.

Watch: BBC follows Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi pushing Russia back on frontline To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: BBC follows Ukraine's Operation Vivaldi pushing Russia back on frontline Close Deep inside an underground bunker in eastern Ukraine, commanders monitor the battlefield through a live video feed as a Ukrainian drone intercepts a Russian surveillance drone. The footage shows the Ukrainian drone hovering above its target, before dropping a net and dragging it from the sky. The interception is part of Operation Vivaldi, a Ukrainian counter-offensive that Kyiv says has recaptured 277 sq km (106 square miles) of territory in the eastern Donbas region in recent months. But Ukraine says new restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network, are threatening its drone operations.