Musk denies Ukraine military misused Starlink service
Summarised from 4 outlets · 5 reports · Updated 29 Oct, 05:28 · Archive
Elon Musk claims Ukraine's military violated Starlink's terms of service by using it for offensive drone strikes, but Ukrainian officials deny this occurred.
Elon Musk has claimed that Ukraine's military violated Starlink's terms of service by using the satellite system for offensive drone strikes. According to Musk, 'the loophole was closed last week'. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegation.
Musk pointed to a post from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stating that Ukraine uses 'Starlink from mid-range strikes against enemy military targets' as evidence of the violation. However, Serhii Beskrestnov, a defence technology advisor for Zelenskyy, pushed back, saying that Starlink's systems can only connect to devices travelling between 70 and 90 kilometres per hour and do not work in Russia. 'Therefore, we physically cannot use commercial Starlink for deep strikes or medium-range strikes,' Beskrestnov wrote.
A former Ukrainian advisor, Serhii Sternenko, offered further technical detail, explaining that while stationary terminals could be registered by military personnel or civilians, 'for any satellite terminal to work while on the move, it had to be added to a special list and connected to the military Starshield system'. He concluded that 'using civilian Starlink for drone missions was technically impossible'.
Ukraine relies on Starlink as a key component of drone operations and battlefield communications. For offensive missions, Ukrainian officials say they use Starshield, the US military-controlled variant of Starlink designed for such purposes.
The dispute comes after Ukrainian officials complained earlier this month of speed restrictions on Starlink that hampered their ability to intercept Russian attack drones and forced the cancellation of some operations. CBS News reported obtaining images showing Ukraine's Starlink access disabled during a Russian strike that killed five people, and reported that Musk had admitted to limiting Ukraine's access to the SpaceX resource.
How it is being reported
- Putin calls Elon Musk a ‘real genius’ after SpaceX boss ‘ordered Starshield blackout’Two weeks ago, Ukraine's access to Starlink was reduced overnight overnight. Starlink is operated by SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company and is used for the country's military communications and drone operations..The Mirror · 29 Oct, 06:36
- Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin calls Musk ‘genius’ for throttling Starlink as drones disrupt Moscow airportsRussia says it has downed most of 613 drones headed for its capital region overnightIndependent World · 29 Oct, 05:11
- Putin hails Elon Musk as ‘genius’ weeks after Starlink access slowed down for UkraineUkraine has relied heavily on Starlink throughout the Russian invasion but complained earlier this month of speed restrictionsIndependent World · 28 Oct, 20:09
- Photos show Ukraine's Starlink access disabled during deadly Russian strikeCBS News has obtained images showing Ukraine's Starlink satellite system disabled during a Russian strike that killed five people. Elon Musk has admitted to limiting Ukraine's access to the SpaceX resource. CBS News foreign policy and national security contributor H.R. McMaster has more.CBS News · 27 Oct, 21:59
- Elon Musk says Ukraine’s military violated Starlink’s terms of serviceElon Musk claims Ukraine violated Starlink's terms of service before the recent slowdown, as reported earlier by Ars Technica. According to Musk, "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," however Ukrainian officials have denied that happened, or that it […]The Verge · 27 Oct, 19:24
In this story: Elon Musk · Ukraine · Volodymyr Zelenskyy · Serhii Beskrestnov · SpaceX · Starlink
This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log
Comments (0)