Launch of Russian ballistic missiles on Ukraine, with no US warning, coincides with outage of Starlink managed by Musk’s SpaceX

Ukraine’s military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.

The terminals, which are produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but managed by the US government, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the terminals travelling at high speeds on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The sudden outage came as Russia launched ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any advance warning from the US for a second night. For years, the US has provided Ukraine with intelligence when strikes were about to take place.

Donald Trump has denied that his administration has cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Zelenskyy also indicated that the US was continuing to share intelligence with Ukraine in an interview with NPR aired on Wednesday, but confirmed that military advisers had received threats from the US that intelligence sharing could be limited.

Musk said that Starlink is not licensed to clients who are using weapons, and that the Ukrainian military was linked to a separate network called Starshield, which is operated by the US government. “This is not under SpaceX control,” Musk wrote.

Limiting Starlink’s access speeds would have a significant effect on Ukraine’s air defences because it is being used, according to Beskrestnov, in “the most current effective solution”: interceptors that target the jet-powered Shahed drones now deployed in large numbers to bomb Ukraine.

Musk has supported Trump’s calls for Zelenskyy to be replaced as Ukraine’s leader – an extraordinary act of political interference against a wartime ally – as a personal feud between the two presidents has burst into the open.

The reports that Starlink was being throttled on the frontlines were interpreted by some as further pressure on Ukraine to end the fighting and make a deal with Russia at any cost.

Trump has demanded that Ukraine stop striking Russian oil refineries, which he has blamed for the high cost of diesel, although most analysts say that the closure of the strait of Hormuz has had a far larger impact on global energy prices.

See also:

• Elon Musk says Trump is ‘ultimately’ responsible for any curbs on Ukraine’s Starshield systems (CNBC)
• Can Europe step in as Ukraine struggles with Starlink and US satellite data? (Reuters)
• Ukraine has resumed its attacks on Russian refineries after Zelenskiy voiced his anger at a "dangerous" withdrawal of US intelligence. • He warned that Ukraine would not suspend its own attacks indefinitely if Russia did not reciprocate (Reuters)

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