SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that he blocked the Ukrainian military from using the Starlink satellite internet service for offensive drone operations last week.

This statement follows the normalization of the service after Ukrainian forces experienced disruptions in military operations due to satellite communication restrictions lasting over a week.

On X (formerly Twitter) yesterday, October 24 (local time), Musk wrote, "The Ukrainian military violated Starlink's terms of service by using it for offensive drone operations to kill people," adding, "That loophole was blocked last week."

Musk emphasized, "Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone operations to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it ever be."

However, regarding Starshield, a separate military satellite communication system, Musk distinguished operational responsibility by stating, "It is controlled by the U.S. government, and how it is used is up to them to decide."

While Starshield, built on the Starlink satellite network, has played a crucial role in the Ukrainian military's drone operations and communications, it is reported that speed restrictions were placed on Starshield following a clash between Ukraine and the U.S. in mid-October over the "energy truce" proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, causing setbacks to Ukraine's military capabilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated yesterday (local time) that the communication functions of Starshield, the military version of Starlink, have been restored to pre-restriction levels for now.

Nevertheless, this incident has put U.S. allies on high alert.

As communication networks essential for military operations can be restricted by a single decision from Elon Musk, there is a growing sense of crisis that reliance on a specific private company could become a vulnerability to national security.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, as a result, U.S. allies are rushing to build independent satellite communication networks.

First, Ukraine announced plans to participate in a satellite network project pursued by Finnish satellite company ICEYE and telecommunications equipment maker Nokia, while Canada's Telesat has also moved forward with plans to build "Lightspeed," a low-Earth orbit network consisting of 288 satellites.

The European Union plans to invest about 17.5 billion dollars (approximately 25 trillion won) to build its own independent communication network called "IRIS²," consisting of 348 satellites.

However, while Starlink currently operates over 11,000 satellites, Europe's representative low-Earth orbit satellite communications company, OneWeb, has only about 650, leading to forecasts that it will be difficult to replace Starlink in the short term.

(Reported by Lee Ho-geon | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News)