The Financial Times revealed that Elon Musk expressed his willingness to allow Ukraine to use the Starlink network to operate drones targeting sites inside Russian territory, but he placed the final decision in the hands of the White House.
The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that Musk informed former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov that he did not oppose the use of drones equipped with “Starlink” outside the Ukrainian borders to strike Russian targets, but he stressed that allowing this would require a political decision from the US administration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had requested expanding the use of “Starlink” within Russian territory, especially to help Ukrainian forces target ballistic missile launchers, in light of the shortage that Kiev faces in air defense systems. Musk had previously considered that expanding the use of the service within Russia could constitute a major escalation of the war.
Fedorov declined to comment on the details of his conversations with Musk, while there was no immediate comment from SpaceX.
The issue is of particular importance given the Ukrainian forces’ widespread reliance on “Starlink” for communications and operations related to drones, at a time when previous stages of the war demonstrated Musk’s ability to impose restrictions on the use of the network in some military operations. In 2025, Reuters revealed that Musk ordered Starlink coverage to be cut off from areas during a Ukrainian counterattack, which led to the disruption of communications between military units and drones.
Musk’s position now places the ball in the court of President Donald Trump’s administration, as allowing the use of “Starlink” to strike targets inside Russia may give Kiev additional ability to carry out long-range operations, but at the same time it carries political and military repercussions linked to the level of direct American involvement in the war.
