19.03.2025
2 min
797
SpaceX has reportedly restricted Starlink operations in Ukraine, disrupting several important military missions. This was reported by Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on military technology.
Beskrestnov, who is also a well-known blogger, reported on Telegram that Starlink terminals moving at speeds exceeding 160 km/h, such as those mounted on drones, and using the military Starshield package had suddenly lost connectivity.
“Our Armed Forces were not informed of this restriction, which led to the disruption of several operations,” Zelenskyy’s adviser wrote.
“It is quite clear that these actions cannot be accidental and are linked to the current political situation.”
Starlink terminals, distributed and operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are crucial to Ukraine’s military operations both on and beyond the front lines.
Musk is an ally of US President Donald Trump, who has recently been demanding that Kyiv stop striking Russian oil refineries. Trump has also blamed Ukraine for high diesel fuel prices, even though he himself signed a deal to import Russian diesel last week.
Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko was the first to report disruptions to Starlink services. He later noted that the terminals had begun losing connectivity even at lower speeds.
“It is quite possible that SpaceX took these measures at the request of the Trump administration,” Sternenko wrote.
According to Beskrestnov, another concern for Kyiv is that Starlink is widely used in defensive operations, particularly to protect the country against Shahed drones that Russia uses to attack Ukrainian targets.
“In effect, through their actions, our partners are depriving us of one of the few ways to defend the country against jet-powered Shahed drones,” Zelenskyy’s adviser stated.
SpaceX had previously suspended Starlink services for Ukrainian troops during the 2024 offensive, which saw Ukrainian forces seize control of a small part of Russian territory.
According to Oliver Carroll, The Economist’s chief correspondent in Ukraine, the latest developments have caused considerable tension in Kyiv.
“If Trump had been running the United States in 1939, I think he would have been an ally of Hitler,” an intelligence source told Carroll.
“And Witkoff and Kushner would have built a luxury hotel complex on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto.”
