Key facts
- Musk reposted the critique on X, the platform he owns, without adding comment.
- The post said SpaceX sending Ukraine thousands of free Starlink dishes and millions of dollars a month in free service was a mistake.
- Ukraine said it uses Starshield only for combat operations within its own territory.
- The Pentagon's watchdog rejected a bipartisan Senate appeal to investigate the Starlink and Starshield disruption.
- Zelensky said the throttling of Starshield cost civilian lives.
Elon Musk reposted a social media post on Nov. 5 that said it was a "mistake" to give Ukraine access to Starlink terminals during Russia's full-scale invasion. The SpaceX CEO amplified the post without comment on X, the platform he owns.
The repost followed an interview in which President Volodymyr Zelensky told the German television program ZDF Magazin Royale that too much power sits with one wealthy person. "There is too much power in the hands of one very wealthy person. Such a concentration of power is dangerous," Zelensky said on Nov. 5.
The post Musk amplified argued that Ukraine should not have been given access to Starlink satellites. "In hindsight, it was a mistake for SpaceX to send (Ukraine) thousands of free Starlink dishes and millions of dollars a month in free service at the beginning of the war," the post read. It added that what began as internet access for civilians became the backbone for autonomous killing drones.
Ukraine uses both commercial Starlink terminals and a militarized version, Starshield. In mid-October, a speed cap on Ukraine's Starshield service was implemented without warning, disrupting the military's ability to intercept Russian jet-powered drones. Musk refused to take responsibility for the decision but publicly accused Ukraine of violating terms of service by using commercial Starlink terminals for offensive drone strikes.
Ukraine rejected the accusation, saying it uses Starshield systems only to support combat operations against Russian forces within Ukrainian territory. Kyiv also said commercial Starlink services do not operate inside Russia and therefore cannot be used to strike Russian territory. Zelensky said the prolonged throttling cost civilian lives, and Ukraine's Starshield has since been restored to full speed.
The Pentagon's watchdog rejected a bipartisan appeal from U.S. senators to investigate the Starlink and Starshield disruption. Musk has taken a lead role in President Donald Trump's second administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and the report said he spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates in the midterm elections. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress.