Elon Musk’s Starlink: A timeline of its role in Ukraine

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is in a powerful position when it comes to Ukraine, thanks to his large technological empire which includes the Starlink satellites – something which could still have a major impact on Ukraine fighting back against the Russian invasion.

Let us get you up to speed.

February 2022: Musk provides Starlink to Ukraine

In the same month which saw Russia invade Ukraine in a so-called “special military operation”, then Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Federov issued a plea directly to Musk on his X/Twitter platform.

“@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand,” he tweeted.

Later the same day, Musk replied: “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.”

The official X/Twitter account for Ukraine ended up thanking the tech billionaire by responding with: “Thnx, appreciate it.”

October 2022: Musk pulls the Starlink service

Fast forward several months, and that service was stopped by Musk, who said they were “just following his recommendation”.

“He” refers to then Ukrainan ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, who told the Starlink owner to “f*** off” when he tweeted a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia which included making the annexed Crimea “formally part of Russia” and redoing elections in annexed regions of Ukraine, with Russia leaving if that is the “will of the people”.

It later emerged, through a letter from SpaceX sent to the Pentagon and reported by CNN, that the tech company could no longer financially support the Starlink service and asked the US government to take over funding.

“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” the letter read.

January 2023: Blocking the use of Starlink for long-range drone strikes

While Musk ultimately decided to continue providing the Starlink service to Ukraine, the billionaire was challenged on not offering “full functionality” in February 2023, and he replied by saying that while Starlink is the “communication backbone of Ukraine”, the company would not “enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3”.

It followed a similar tweet shared by Musk the month before, when he described the aforementioned “communication backbone” as the “damned if you do part”, and described the refusal to allow Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes as the “damned if you don’t part”.

September 2023: Musk reportedly ordered engineers to switch off Starlink over Ukraine attack on Russian warships

A then upcoming biography on Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson – simply titled Elon Musk – claimed the entrepreneur ordered Starlink engineers to switch off Starlink near the coast of Crimea in order to stop an attack on Russian warships by Ukraine, reportedly because he feared such an attack would push the Kremlin towards starting a nuclear war.

Musk told Isaacson: “How am I in this war? Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars.

“It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”

The news was slammed by Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who claimed that Musk “allowed” the Russian fleet to “fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities”, killing civilians and children, as a result of his not allowing Ukrainian drones to “destroy part of the Russian military fleet”.

September 2026: Finland urges Musk to expand Starlink coverage in Ukraine

Three years later, and Finnish president Alexander Stubb told Reuters he pleaded with Musk to make it so Ukraine can strike ballistic missile launchers within Russian territory, as Ukraine faces a shortage of air defences.

Stubb said: “That's why ... I plead that Elon Musk would give the Ukrainians the possibility touse Starlink in areas where there are ballistic missile launchers, either in the occupied territory of Ukraine or in Russia for strategic purposes because that would save lives.”

The Kremlin reportedly said such an expansion would mark a “harmful, potentially dangerous, and reckless step”.

October 14, 2026: Musk claims Starshield speed limits 'are decided by US military and ultimately POTUS

in response to former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeting that “Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h is being restored”, Musk said “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”.

He added: “Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

October 16, 2026: Reuters report Starshield slowdown order 'came from inside White House' - per sources

Two days later, Reuters reported that the order to limit Starshield came from inside the government building, according to “two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter”.

And before he travelled to Georgia for a rally that same day, Trump was asked by a reporter about who gave the order to restrict Starlink, to which he replied: “I don’t know if it was anyone, because it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon."

October 16, 2026: Musk approached Trump with Starlink slowdown idea, Telegraph reports

On the same day, The Telegraph, citing four sources familiar with the discussions between Musk and Trump, reported that the former approached the latter with the idea to impose speed limits on the internet system, with one of these sources claiming Trump “agreed” with the idea, which “[paved] the way for the Pentagon to execute the slowdown on [Starlink’s military counterpart] Starshield”.

October 21, 2026: The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk ordered the Starlink slowdown

Citing US officials and people familiar with the matter, the WSJ stated Musk limited the speeds last week, and that both Musk and Trump discussed the decision around Starlink “in a call soon after the slowdown became public”.

October 23, 2026: Trump called Musk asking him to lift Starlink restrictions, WSJ reports

On the same day that The Wall Street Journal published its previous report, Trump called Musk and requested that he lift restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Starlink - the outlet reported on Friday, citing US officials.

The call came a day before "the system was working more normally".

The US officials state – via the WSJ – that the president told the billionaire he was “frustrated the system’s speeds remained capped at around 100 miles an hour”.

When Trump was asked about this on Thursday, and whether he told Musk to restore Starlink access in Ukraine, he replied: “I don’t want to say, but I know it was a very interesting situation, so I don’t want to comment one way or the other.

“Whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn’t make a difference, I guess. The bottom line: he put it back.”

Meanwhile, a Ukraine official told the WSJ: “We keep waiting for the information and clarification from the American side about the situation. There is no response yet.”

October 24, 2026: Musk claims Ukraine military 'violated Starlink terms of service'

In response to another X/Twitter user tweeting that Starlink is "not a weapons system", Musk quoted the tweet and added "correct".

He continued: "Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be.

"Starshield, a different system, is controlled by the US government. What they decide to do is up to them.

"Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week.

"Were Starlink to be turned off, the Ukrainian front line would collapse immediately. This is NOT a threat, it is simply a statement of fact.

"SpaceX has done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth BY FAR."

He followed the tweet up with a screengrab of a post from Zelensky on October 16, in which the Ukrainian president said the country "[uses] Starlink for mid-range strikes against enemy military targets in our temporarily occupied territories".

October 24, 2026: Zelensky confirms Starlink and Starshield speeds are 'now where they need to be'

On the same day, Zelensky posted a video to his X/Twitter account in which he confirmed the restoration of Starlink and Starshield access for Ukraine, writing in the accompanying caption: "The most important thing today is that Starlink and Starshield operations have been restored to the speeds we had before the restrictions. The speeds are now where they need to be. The restoration began overnight, and by this morning, speeds were already sufficient. This matters: for our frontline logistics, for defending Ukraine against jet-powered 'shaheds.'

"I thank all Americans and all our partners who took this seriously and truly helped – members of Congress, senators, all the media, the State Department, and the President. Protecting lives matters."

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