This was stated at a conference in Washington by SpaceX President and Director of Operations Gwynn Shotwell, Ukrinform reported, citing Reuters.

According to him, the Starlink satellite Internet service, which provides broadband to the Ukrainian military for defense against the Russian army, “was never intended to be used as a weapon.”

But the Ukrainians used it unintentionally, not as part of any deal,” he said.

In a later conversation with reporters, Shotwell referred to reports that the Ukrainian military was using the Starlink service to control drones.

Ukraine effectively uses drones to detect enemy positions, conduct long-range fire and drop bombs.

“There are things we can do to limit their ability to do this. There are things we can do and are already doing,” he said, referring to Starlink’s use of drones.

At the same time, Shotwell declined to specify exactly what measures SpaceX took.

The official said that the use of Starlink drones is outside the scope of SpaceX’s agreement with the Ukrainian government, adding that the contract is for humanitarian purposes such as providing broadband internet to hospitals, banks and families affected by the Russian occupation.

“We know the military uses them for communication and that’s normal. But we never wanted them to use it for offensive purposes,” he said.

As noted, SpaceX has specially delivered to Ukraine trucks with Starlink terminals that allow the country’s military to communicate, connect them, and connect them to the nearly 4,000 satellites SpaceX has already launched into low Earth orbit.

Governments of countries such as the USA and France have paid for other shipments of Starlink terminals in addition to those privately funded by SpaceX.

The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, said that Russia tried to disrupt Starlink signals in the region, but SpaceX responded by boosting the service’s software.

As reported by Ukrinform, in January Ukraine received 8,000 Starlink terminals delivered from Poland to energy companies, doctors and “invincibility points”. Overall, 30,000 terminals have already been delivered to the country.