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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.

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.

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.

Ukrainian forces said its battlefield efforts were temporarily hampered after losing some access to SpaceX’s military-grade satellite Internet service. Experts tell TIME why Starshield is so uniquely important on the Ukrainian battlefield.

A Ukrainian serviceman prepares a Starlink satellite internet systems near the front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, in 2024. WASHINGTON - Ukraine said on Wednesday that Elon Musk's SpaceX had restricted "military-grade" Starlink services, hampering Ukrainian drone strike missions and air defenses. The complaint has drawn renewed attention to the distinction between Starlink, SpaceX's commercial satellite internet service, and Starshield, a military version developed for the Pentagon. While Musk has said the two systems are separate, in many cases they share the same underlying satellite technology. "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the U.S. government," Musk said on Wednesday in a post on social media platform X, adding that any limits on speed or usage are decided by the U.S. military or the U.S. president.