70 km/h cap blocked drones before Musk Ukraine claim, official says
A defense advisor says Starlink terminals in Ukraine were already speed-limited, contradicting Elon Musk's account of a contract breach.
By Hassan Okoye ·
Elon Musk says Ukraine broke Starlink rules to run drone strikes, but a Ukrainian official says a speed limit on satellite terminals had already made such use impossible.
Musk wrote on Saturday that using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed. He added that Starshield, a different system controlled by the US government, operates under separate terms, and that Ukraine's military violated Starlink terms of service by using it for offensive drone strikes. His comment came after SpaceX imposed a restriction on the speed of drones using the technology.
Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology advisor for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, disputed the account in a Telegram post on Sunday. He wrote that all Starlink terminals operating over Ukrainian territory, including areas occupied by Russia, were already subject to a movement speed limit of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour. He added that Starlink does not function over the territory of Russia. One current and one former Ukrainian official also rejected Musk's accusation, saying earlier limits from SpaceX had already prevented the military from using Starlink in the way he described. Ukrainian officials have separately accused Musk of throttling their access to Starshield, which Ukraine uses under an agreement with the US government.
Zelenskyy said over the weekend that the new satellite restrictions have been lifted. The dispute began almost two weeks ago.
