Accusations have been brought forward by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company that the Ukrainian military has been utilizing its Starlink internet service to power drones in their ongoing conflict with Russia. SpaceX has taken steps to restrict the Ukrainian military’s ability to do so.
Speaking at a Federal Aviation Administration conference in Washington on Wednesday, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s Chief Operating Officer, declared that the company is delighted to assist Ukraine in its endeavors. “fight for freedom” but that the Starlink satellite internet service was “never intended to be weaponized.”
“Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” Shotwell said. “We know the military is using them for [communications], and that’s okay … but our intent was never to have them use it for offensive purposes.”
She was referring to reports that the Ukrainian military had utilized the Starlink service to control drones, and, without going into detail, indicated that there were “things that we can do to limit their ability to do that.” It is not clear how Starlink would stop the service from being employed for drones, and Shotwell did not explain. “There are things that we can do, and have done,” she told reporters.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, expressed no cause for concern. “We are not reliant on Starlink alone,” he told The Washington Post. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. We need to determine the extent to which this could affect our operations and whether we need to adjust our tactics in any way.”
Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko tweeted Thursday that his country felt “gratitude” to Starlink at the onset of the war and credited it with having “saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”
“Ukraine doesn’t offense, we liberate,” he wrote. “No neutrality in fight of good and evil.”
In its nearly year-long war with Russia, Ukraine’s military has grown increasingly dependent on unmanned aerial weapons such as drones. Additionally, with internet outages, infrastructure damage, and Russian cyberattacks, Ukraine has also relied on Starlink’s services for both military and humanitarian purposes.