“Rules were violated”: Elon Musk blocks Starlink system after Zelensky's post
American billionaire and SpaceX head Elon Musk has explained the reason for the restricted access to the Starlink satellite internet network in Ukraine. According to Musk, this decision was directly caused by a social media post from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The entrepreneur pointed out that Zelenskiy's October 16 post openly acknowledged the use of the Starlink system in medium-range strike drone attacks, which constituted a severe violation of the system's rules.
“Zelenskiy wrote it himself”: Sharp statement from Musk
Elon Musk explained the real reasons behind the decision on his X (formerly Twitter) page as follows:
Quote and yellow highlight: Musk highlighted the sentence from Zelenskiy's post that stated «we are also using the Starlink system for medium-range strikes» in yellow;
Violation of terms of use: «Let me spell it out for the fools: Zelenskiy himself wrote about using Starlink for drone attacks, which is a complete violation of the terms of use», — Musk emphasized;
«The loophole was closed»: The entrepreneur reminded that last week they were forced to close this loophole in the system, as the system is intended solely for defense and civilian communications.
Civilian system and military restrictions: Where is the line drawn?
Starlink explained this decision by the need to maintain its commercial and humanitarian status:
«No permission to kill people»: «A civilian and commercial system like Starlink was never allowed, and should never be allowed, to be used for offensive drone strikes aimed at killing people», — the billionaire wrote;
Transition from defense to aggression: Musk stated that the system was initially provided to maintain communications and support infrastructure, but turning it into a weapon of attack does not align with policy;
Impact on the frontline: These technical restrictions could seriously affect the range and operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' satellite-guided drones.
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