Kathmandu. American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has accused Ukraine of carrying out a deadly drone attack using the Starlink satellite communications system.

Musk’s comments come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Kyiv over the disruption of services to the network, which is important to the Ukrainian military. Writing on social media X on Saturday, Musk accused the Ukrainian military of using the system to carry out drone strikes with the intention of killing people in violation of Starlink’s terms of service. He also claimed that the vulnerability was removed last week.

“Starlink’s terms have always been based on the purpose of using it as a civilian communication system, not as a means of killing. If the terms are violated, the service will be discontinued,” Musk wrote in another post. However, Musk said that Starlink is still very important to Ukraine’s defense.

According to him, the system is crucial for the Ukrainian military as it is difficult to immediately intercept or destroy. “If Starlink is closed, Ukraine’s front line will collapse immediately,” he said. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Musk has repeatedly changed his stance on Ukraine.

He has also claimed that the US government is more responsible than SpaceX for the disruption to Starlink service. Ukraine, which has been facing Russian missile and drone attacks, has relied on the civilian Starlink and the military-developed StarShield system for military communications, surveillance and other operations.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevgeny Khmara said on Saturday that the surveillance systems showed an improvement in the speed of Starlink and Starshield. According to him, the speed of the system has reached more than 400 kilometers per hour and communication communication is stable.

“This achievement is very important for our front line, troops, drone operations, logistics management and communications,” Khamara said. He added that the necessary momentum had been restored and that the restoration of services had begun last night. He said the reforms were important for the Ukrainian military to manage logistics on the front lines and protect the country from attacks including the threat of rocket-propelled drones.

The Starlink network has been a major bone of contention between Ukraine and the United States in recent times. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Washington of working to benefit Russia.

According to him, Ukraine’s military response was weakened due to the US not giving timely warning of missile attacks aimed at Ukraine and limiting the speed of Starlink. Defense Minister Khamara praised Zelensky’s “firm stance” on this issue and said that it was yielding positive results.