Ukraine has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of disrupting its military operations by limiting Starlink internet services, as the country reeled from a pair of intense Russian missile attacks that it said came without the usual advance warning from allies. Facing pressure from President Donald Trump to halt strikes on Russia’s energy industry, Kyiv and its backers have worried Washington could cut off battlefield support to try and force it into concessions at the negotiating table. Ukrainian officials and their European partners were already scrambling to understand the status of U.S. intelligence sharing after the lack of alert ahead of two Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv this week caused confusion, two Ukrainian and two European officials told NBC News.
Trump insisted the U.S. was still sharing intel, but with relations spiraling Ukrainian officials and military units were on Wednesday accusing SpaceX of throttling a technology essential to their battlefield communications and drone operations. It was not immediately clear what might be behind the Starlink interruptions, though some Ukrainian officials said the timing could not be a coincidence given that Musk is a close Trump ally. SpaceX had introduced speed limits on the operation of its Starlink satellite internet terminals overnight, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s defense tech adviser, Serhii Beskrestnov.
An army unit fighting in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said Wednesday it had been forced to cancel some planned operations. The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps of the Ukrainian air assault forces said it began “noticing Starlink connectivity problems caused by data transfer speed limits” overnight, adding that the changes directly affected drones that use the service for in-flight control. Beskrestnov said that restrictions were specifically put on the operation of the military-grade version of Starlink at speeds above 100 mph.
Starlink was also key for Ukraine’s aerial defenses as it was used to intercept the jet-powered drones that Moscow has unleashed on Ukrainian cities in recent months, he added. Ukraine has reached out to the U.S. government and SpaceX for clarification on the rationale for the new restrictions but has yet to receive a response, according to a Ukrainian official. Ukraine’s armed forces learned about the limitations from customer support after filing a complaint regarding operational issues, the official said, adding that SpaceX had not warned of the move.
Ukrainian military units were already reporting issues with drone performance at even lower speeds, the official added. The White House and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News. The disruption follows days of mounting tensions between Kyiv and Washington, as Trump pushes to lower gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump’s latest reversal in his bid to settle the war saw him stun Kyiv by striking a diesel deal with Russia that upended years of U.S. sanctions. He then demanded that Ukraine stop attacking Russian oil refineries and called for Zelenskyy to be replaced. Trump also announced an “energy ceasefire” that neither warring side appears to have agreed to.
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