News Desk
CALIFORNIA: SpaceX has barred Ukraine from using Starlink – the firm’s satellite internet service – for military purposes following reports that Kyiv has used it to control drones.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Kyiv was provided with thousands of SpaceX Starlink dishes – which connect to satellites and help people use the internet.
But reportedly Kyiv had also been using the tech to target Russian positions with drones – which SpaceX says were in violation of the service agreement.
Ukraine is yet to comment on the matter.
“Starlink was never meant to be weaponized”
The technology was “never meant to be weaponised,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said at an event in Washington DC on Wednesday. She made reference to Ukraine’s alleged use of Starlink tech to control drones and stressed that the equipment had been provided for humanitarian use.
The executive said that it was acceptable for the Ukrainian military to deploy Starlink technology “for comms”, but said her intent was “never to have them use it for offensive purposes”.
Without giving further details, she said SpaceX had taken steps to “limit” the Ukrainian military’s abilities to use Starlink in an offensive way.
Shotwell said she was not aware of whether these efforts were the cause of outages to the Starlink service late last year.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk had also accused Russia of attempting to jam Starlink signals.
The role of unmanned aircraft was critical in the war, with Kyiv using them to search out and target Russian troops, drop bombs and respond to Moscow’s own drone attacks.
