“That loophole was closed last week,” he added, referring to the restrictions temporarily placed on the service last week which limited speeds to 100 miles per hour. Musk also maintained that Starshield is a separate system controlled by the US government.
Musk also underscored Ukraine’s reliance on the service, saying it “remains critical to the defense of Ukraine” and claimed that if Starlink were turned off, “the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately.”
Zelensky’s adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov disputed Musk’s accusation that Ukraine is using the commercial service to kill people, saying speed restrictions and the service’s unavailability over Russian territory made Ukraine “physically unable to use commercial Starlink” for medium- and long-range strikes into Russia.
Serhiy Sternenko, a former Ukrainian Ministry of Defense adviser, also denied Musk’s claims. “As someone who was involved in the process at the Ministry of Defense, I can say with certainty that this is not true,” Sternenko said.
Echoing Beskrestnov’s claims, he said, “It was technically impossible to use the civilian Starlink system for drone missions. All drone missions requiring satellite communication could only be carried out using Starshield.”
Ukraine’s defense ministry said Saturday that full access to Starlink and Starshield was restored. It came after US President Donald Trump said he asked Musk to lift restrictions on Kyiv’s use of the military grade version of the Musk-owned Starlink internet service.
“The Ministry of Defense’s monitoring systems are recording a recovery in Starlink/Starshield speeds,” Ukrainian Minister of Defense Yevheniy Khmara said in a statement, adding that restored speeds exceeding 400 kilometers per hour were being recorded.
For more than a week, Ukraine had faced a speed limit on the Starshield satellite terminals used by its military, hindering its ability to intercept fast-moving Russian drones.
Trump and his top officials have denied making the call to throttle Ukraine’s use of Starshield, which limited speeds to 100 mph, according to Ukrainian officials.
Musk said the Trump administration was behind the ban in a post to social media last week.
It comes as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine continued overnight. According to Ukrainian authorities, over 153 Russian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were launched at Ukraine from Russia, mainly targeting large department stores and warehouses. At least three people were killed in the UAV strikes and 25 others were injured.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said at least two were killed and 22 injured in Ukrainian attacks. 532 UAVs fired from Ukraine were intercepted, the MoD said, adding that industrial sites were hit in multiple regions.
