Musk Says He Has Blocked Unauthorized Use of Starlink by Russian Drones

Financial News, New York City – Reporter Lee Byung-chul.Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, has said he blocked the unauthorized use of Starlink satellite internet terminals by Russian drones, putting the controversy over Starlink’s role in the war in Ukraine back in the spotlight. The move came after the Ukrainian government asked him to cut off communications technology that was helping Russian drone attacks.
On the 2nd local time, Elon Musk stated that measures taken to prevent Russian drones from using Starlink terminals after Ukraine’s request are proving effective. On the social media platform X, he wrote, "The measures taken to prevent Russia’s unauthorized use of Starlink appear to be working," adding, "If any further actions are needed, please let me know."
Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, said Russian drones were flying over Ukrainian cities by using Starlink connectivity, and that he had contacted SpaceX to propose ways to block this. According to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, these drones fly at low altitude, are resistant to electronic warfare systems, and can be controlled in real time over long distances, making them difficult to intercept.
Starlink is not officially activated in Russia, but a black market for terminals has emerged, and middlemen have been supplying them to the Russian military. As a result, the communications advantage Ukrainian forces enjoyed on the battlefield in the early stages of the war has been partially eroded.
Minister Fedorov noted that the initial measures produced quick results and said the next step will be to introduce a system under which only authorized Starlink terminals will function within Ukrainian territory. However, the Ukrainian government and SpaceX have not disclosed specific technical details.
Ukrainian electronic warfare specialists reported that Russia mounted small Starlink devices on top of drones and controlled them via satellite links instead of using radio communications, which are vulnerable to electronic warfare. Analysts say that if this technology had spread on a large scale, it could have posed a serious threat to key capabilities such as logistics, air defense, and artillery.
Musk’s involvement in the war in Ukraine began in early 2022, when he activated Starlink in Ukraine at the request of Fedorov, who was then in charge of digital affairs. Since then, hundreds of thousands of terminals have been used for battlefield communications and civilian internet access. However, in the winter of 2023, SpaceX restricted the use of Starlink for military purposes other than communications, and later that summer it refused a request to activate Starlink for an operation in the Crimean Peninsula.
At the time, Musk explained that it was a decision "to avoid being explicitly complicit in an act of war." More recently, he said the Crimean Peninsula case occurred before the U.S. federal government had granted a sanctions waiver, adding, "If we had turned Starlink on then, it could have been a major crime."



pride@fnnews.com Reporter Lee Byung-chul Reporter