Ukrainian combat troops gain restricted access to Starlink satellite internet

Ukrainian soldiers experienced a sudden disruption in their access to Starlink satellite internet terminals amid increased pressure from the Trump administration for Ukraine to cease long-range attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure. These terminals, managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are vital for Ukraine's military operations. The unexpected restrictions on these high-speed terminals led to the failure of several combat missions, as reported by an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This outage coincided with Russia launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine without prior warnings from the US, breaking a pattern of intelligence sharing. The terminals, which travel at speeds over 100 mph, lost connectivity, said Serhiy Beskrestnov, a military technology adviser and popular military blogger. He suggested the disruption was intentional, linked to the political climate. Beskrestnov noted that the lack of advance warning resulted in mission failures, indicating the action was not coincidental.

Previously, Musk had suspended Starlink services to Ukrainian forces during an offensive that reclaimed a small part of Russian territory. Political activist Serhii Sternenko, with military connections, reported the outage and implied it was at the Trump administration's request. He noted that while Starlink services were affected, regular satellite communication terminals remained functional.

Trump has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, attributing high diesel costs to these strikes, despite analysts pointing to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a major factor in global energy price increases. Zelenskyy hinted that the US might be withholding intelligence on Russian missile threats, although he did not explicitly state this.

Russia executed a significant strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, launching 39 ballistic missiles and 120 drones at Kyiv and Kharkiv, targeting power plants and substations, according to Zelenskyy. He described the attack as a blatant disregard for the US, suggesting Russia underestimated the American president's resolve. The strikes left at least 600,000 people without power, with potential for further widespread outages.