Sikorski to Musk over Starlink limits in Ukraine: “Playing politics with your products again?”

“Hey, Elon Musk, big guy, playing politics with your products again? As your European customers, we are watching you.” With this post on X, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski addressed the owner of SpaceX on Wednesday, October 14, after reports that the company had restricted, without warning, the operation of Starlink and Starshield for Ukrainian forces. The post drew about 2.15 million views.

What Ukraine reported

Sergiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, adviser to Ukraine’s president on technology, said the restrictions were introduced overnight between October 13 and 14, without notifying the Defence Forces. According to the Kyiv Post, they affected the military Starshield package and terminals moving faster than about 160 km/h, and interrupted missions, mainly of interceptor drones used against Shahed jets.

Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps reported that the connection dropped for 10 to 20 seconds at speeds of 110 to 120 km/h. Sikorski attached to his post the Kyiv Independent report headlined “This cannot be a coincidence”, a phrase of the Ukrainian adviser.

Musk’s answer

Musk did not reply directly to Sikorski. The same evening, however, answering former Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, he wrote: “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or use are decided by the US military and, ultimately, by the president. Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Starlink use is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action.”

Fedorov had written that the connection at speeds up to 160 km/h was being “restored” and that fully lifting Starshield’s speed limit was “now critical for Ukraine’s defence”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the restrictions a “big mistake” in an interview.

A feud since 2025

Sikorski and Musk also clashed in March 2025, when the Polish minister said Poland pays about $50 million a year for Ukraine’s Starlink terminals and would look for another supplier if SpaceX proved unreliable. Musk replied: “Be quiet, small man.”

Sikorski is one of Europe’s sharpest voices towards Moscow, and recently said that if Russia attacks, the West would defeat it quickly, as we reported in Sikorski on NATO and a Russian attack. In Poland, an arson attack on a Starlink station is also under investigation, covered in our report on the two arrested Turkish nationals.