Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Elon Musk said Kyiv violated the terms of SpaceX’s commercial Starlink service by using it for offensive drone strikes, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Starlink and Starshield operations had been restored to the speeds available before recent restrictions were imposed. That loophole was closed last week.” Musk added that the commercial service is limited to “civilian or defensive use.” The terms of use on Starlink's website say in part, "Starlink Kits and Services are commercial communication products. Off-the-shelf, Starlink can provide communication capabilities to a variety of end-users, such as consumers, schools, businesses and other commercial entities, hospitals, humanitarian organizations, non-governmental and governmental organizations in support of critical infrastructure and other services, including during times of crisis." "However, Starlink is not designed or intended for use with or in offensive or defensive weaponry or other comparable end-uses," the website reads.
SpaceX fixed communications outages that emerged after the restriction was first introduced, but the 100-mph cap remained, Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to Zelensky, told the . separately reported, citing a person in Ukraine’s defense ministry, that the receivers had resumed working while in motion but only at speeds of up to 100 mph. Zelensky, meanwhile, said in a video posted to X that Starlink and Starshield, SpaceX's military-grade system used by Ukraine, were again operating at the speeds Ukraine needed. "I thank all Americans and all our partners who took this seriously and truly helped – members of Congress, senators, all the media, the State Department, and the President," Zelensky said.
"Protecting lives matters." The dispute highlights Ukraine’s reliance on satellite communications for military operations as the war with Russia continues. Ukrainian officials said access to Starlink had been restricted without advance warning and that SpaceX had placed a speed limit on Starlink terminals in Ukraine earlier this month, disrupting battlefield operations. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil and gas facilities in an effort to curb energy revenue used to finance Moscow’s war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Ukrainian refinery attacks have cost Russia roughly 1 percent of its gross domestic product. Moscow, meanwhile, has continued targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure. President Donald Trump has pressured Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil facilities as high diesel prices remain an issue in the United States ahead of the midterm elections.
In Newsweek’s earlier reporting, Trump blamed Ukraine’s attacks for contributing to those prices, while his administration moved to allow Russian diesel back onto global markets and relaxed sanctions to authorize imports into the U.S. The controversy comes against a backdrop of tensions between Zelensky and the Trump administration. In February 2025, Zelensky and Vice President JD Vance discussed the White House's push for negotiations to end the war, with Zelensky saying Ukraine needed “security guarantees” and Vance saying the U.S. wanted a “durable, lasting peace.” Days later, following a contentious Oval Office encounter involving Trump, Vance and Zelensky, Trump said the Ukrainian leader “doesn’t want to make a deal” and needed to be “more appreciative.” Tensions have continued to rise more recently.
On Monday, Trump said Zelensky was “not helping” efforts to end the war that began in February 2022 and suggested someone else should negotiate for Ukraine. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment by email on Saturday. Musk has said Starshield systems are "owned and controlled" by the U.S. government, meaning "any limits on speed or usage" are dictated by the U.S. military, and, ultimately, the president. reported on October 22, citing two U.S. officials and a Western official briefed on the matter, that the order to slow the Starshield service used by Ukraine came from inside the White House.
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