Elon Musk said SpaceX throttled Starlink in Ukraine last week, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said service speeds returned to normal.
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Elon Musk said on Saturday that SpaceX throttled the Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, disrupting operations that Ukraine relies on while defending itself against Russia.
Musk made the comments in a post on X after Zelenskyy wrote that Ukraine’s access to Starlink and Starshield satellite links has been restored to the speeds it had before restrictions disrupted front-line operations for more than a week. Zelenskyy said the restoration began overnight and was sufficient by Saturday morning.
Musk said his company imposed the speed restriction, writing that using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for “offensive drone strikes to kill people” had “never been allowed” and that the “loophole was closed last week.”
He also said the U.S. government controlled changes related to Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink that is described as the backbone of Ukraine’s drone operations and communication.
Ukraine’s commanders and officials had raised alarm after the restrictions were imposed last week, reporting lost drones and disrupted missions. The restoration followed a new U.S. diplomatic push to end the war, with Russia agreeing Wednesday to resume three-way negotiations with Washington and Kyiv next month.
The broader episode has further strained relations between Kyiv and Washington, which Ukraine has already described as tense amid reporting that President Donald Trump reached a deal with Moscow involving Russian diesel imports. Trump has said he did not make the call and also said Musk should not be blamed.
In a separate development, a man was killed and two others were wounded in a missile attack on the city of Lozova in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, local officials said Saturday.
Moscow-installed authorities in cities across Russia-occupied Crimea reported power blackouts Saturday following overnight Ukrainian attacks, while Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian forces hit a chemical plant in Russia’s Tolyatti and damaged industrial facilities there.
Ukraine’s General Staff also said Ukrainian forces hit an electronics plant in the city of Oryol, where local officials said three people were killed in a Friday attack. The General Staff said the plant makes components for cruise and ballistic missiles used against Ukrainian cities.
Ukrainian drones also reached Russia’s Omsk region in western Siberia, more than 2,000 kilometers from the Ukraine border, according to Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko, who said the drones reached a northern industrial hub. Online retailer Ozon said its logistics centre in Omsk was attacked by a drone, adding there were no casualties.
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