Starlink in Ukraine: Disruption apparently fixed, but no one takes blame

According to Ukraine’s former defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, the latest restrictions on the military use of Starlink satellite internet have been lifted. This would allow attack and interceptor drones to once again be controlled using technology from U.S. space company SpaceX, Fedorov said on Telegram. He also wrote there that Starlink was working again at speeds of up to 160 km/h; connections above that limit had been disrupted. Now, he said, they must work to remove the limit entirely. Meanwhile, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that the U.S. government is responsible for the affected Starshield program for Starlink. That ultimately makes U.S. President Donald Trump responsible for the disruption.

The two statements came after the incident drew widespread criticism, including from Ukraine. Ukraine had announced Wednesday that its military’s access to Starlink satellite internet had been significantly restricted without warning. The move had already had concrete consequences for drone warfare, officials said, with some missions having to be called off. After presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov made the move public, he also said on Telegram that the affected Starlink feature was needed for interceptor drones targeting jet-powered Shahed drones. Ukraine had been deprived of that capability.

No one takes responsibility

Ukrainian leaders had voiced suspicions that the disruption was no accident. The restriction came after Donald Trump put heavy pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to unilaterally stop attacks on Russia’s energy sector. The bipartisan Ukraine Caucus in the U.S. Congress criticized the disruption after it came to light. Allied partners pay for Ukraine’s access to Starlink, it said, adding that it would not accept putting civilians at risk. While Elon Musk assigned responsibility for the affected program to the U.S. military — and thus Trump personally — in a post on X, people close to Trump told Axios that his administration had nothing to do with it.

The circumstances behind the incident remain unclear, and it’s not yet clear what might happen next. Fedorov appears to want to use the opportunity to get rid of restrictions that have been in place for some time. Starlink remains indispensable to Ukraine’s defense against Russia. With infrastructure destroyed and mobile networks unavailable, the service provides high-speed internet even near the front lines. Because drone footage can be transmitted over it almost in real time, Ukrainian weapons can be remotely guided to their targets. Without Starlink, they would instead be operating blind.

(mho)