Table of Contents
The European Commission has urged Elon Musk's SpaceX to restore Starshield satellite services in Ukraine, after Kyiv said for the second time in recent weeks that the military communications network had been restricted.
The call from Brussels on Nov. 12 came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces had recorded fresh disruptions to Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink internet service. Ukraine said the limits made it easier for Russia to carry out strikes. SpaceX denied that it had throttled the service.
The dispute flared as U.S. envoys met Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks on ending the war.
A second clash in weeks
The European Union first demanded a reversal in October, when Zelenskyy told an EU summit in Brussels that mobile Starlink terminals were losing connection when mounted on drones flying above a certain speed. He said that stopped Ukrainian interceptor drones from engaging some Russian drones.
"SpaceX must urgently restore full services to Ukraine, because Ukraine needs these critical connections," a commission spokesperson said at the time. Ukraine relies on satellite internet for troop communications, civilian protection and drone control.
People familiar with the matter said in October that Musk was behind those restrictions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said then that President Donald Trump had not ordered any changes. "The president does not run this company and cannot give it instructions," Rubio said.
The EU is building IRIS2, its own secure satellite network for civilian and military use, and has said Ukraine will be fully included.
Musk's satellite empire
SpaceX operates the world's largest satellite constellation. Starlink terminals have been central to Ukraine's battlefield communications since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Starshield supplies government and military customers.
Musk has clashed with Ukrainian officials before. In 2023, he said he had refused a request to activate Starlink near Crimea for a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian ships.
Musk, who also runs Tesla Inc., is the world's richest person, according to Forbes. Most of his fortune is tied to his stakes in SpaceX and Tesla.
The intelligence satisfies curiosity. The paid briefings satisfy strategy.
Every Monday, Elite subscribers receive an Investor Memo breaking down the deal, the structure and the positioning behind the week's most consequential African wealth story — the kind of analysis that doesn't appear anywhere else.
Twice a month, a Wealth Intelligence brief profiles a single billionaire's holdings, cash flows and expansion pipeline in detail no public source matches.
→ Executive ($25/mo): Daily newsletter + Deep-Dive Reports
→ Elite ($75/mo): Everything above + Investor Memos + Wealth Intelligence + Quarterly Analyst Briefings
Subscribe now
