Ukraine’s military reports restricted Starlink access during combat operations

Ukraine’s military reported sudden restrictions on some Starlink satellite-internet terminals during combat operations. Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on military technology, said the disruption caused several missions to fail.

The restriction affected terminals travelling faster than 100mph and using a military version of Starlink for national-security agencies. Beskrestnov said the armed forces had not been warned.

Disruption affected drone interception

Beskrestnov said Starlink is used in systems that intercept jet-powered Shahed drones. He said interception rates had fallen from more than 90% to about 60% after Russia upgraded the drones’ engines.

There were no reports that static terminals had been cut off, suggesting that critical battlefield communications for troops remained available. The detection of incoming Russian missiles and drones relies on other technologies.

SpaceX and US describe networks differently

Elon Musk said Starlink was not licensed for clients using weapons and that Ukraine’s military was linked to Starshield, a separate network operated by the US government. Musk said Starshield was not under SpaceX control.

The disruption came as the Trump administration pressured Kyiv to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil infrastructure. Some interpreted the reported throttling as additional pressure on Ukraine, but the source does not confirm that this was the reason for the restriction.

That evening, Russia struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with 39 ballistic missiles and 120 attack drones, according to Zelenskyy. The attack left at least 600,000 people without power.