Ukraine’s satellite internet is running at full strength again, and the billionaire whose company operates it now says he knows why it stalled.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the recovery Saturday in a post on Telegram. “The speeds are now at the level we need,” he said.
Elon Musk addressed the episode the same day on X.
He said Ukraine’s military had been using Starlink, SpaceX’s civilian internet service, to carry out drone attacks against Russia, and that SpaceX took steps to end the practice.
“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote.
He then separated Starlink from a second product. “Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.”
Musk also described the fix. “Ukraine military [sic] violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week,” he said.
From there, he pointed to SpaceX’s role in the war. “SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR,” he added.
He saved his sharpest words for those pushing for a longer fight.
“That said, I have nothing but UTTER CONTEMPT for the virtue-signaling evil warmongers who push for endless slaughter and offer no realistic solution to the conflict.” His final line read: “May you burn in hell.”
The trouble began roughly two weeks ago. Ukrainian officials publicly objected after they ran into problems with their Starlink connection.
The problems affected drones flying at 160 km/h or faster, while Russian drones at the time were flying at 400 km/h or faster.
Musk first suggested the Ukrainians were talking about Starshield, the military variant that sits under American government control.
That remark sparked a dispute over who held responsibility for the slowdown.
Trump and senior officials in his administration repeatedly said the fault did not lie with them.
The New York Post reported that several administration sources could not say who had caused the problem.
The episode unfolded against a crowded diplomatic backdrop.
President Donald Trump had recently announced a diesel agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Starlink complaints surfaced soon afterward.
Days before the slowdown hit Kyiv, Musk had joined Trump in calling for Ukraine to choose a new leader. Both cited Ukraine’s continuing attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Russia, for its part, has bombarded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the network that keeps civilians warm, with winter approaching.
The throttling prompted criticism from lawmakers in both American parties and from officials abroad.
Saturday’s two announcements left the timeline on the record. Musk said SpaceX closed the loophole last week, and Zelensky said full speeds returned by Saturday.
