Ukraine says new Starlink restrictions disrupt military due to intelligence gaps and clashes with Trump

Ukraine has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of disrupting its military operations by limiting Starlink internet services, as the country reeled from two intense Russian missile attacks that it said occurred without the usual advance warning from allies.

Facing pressure from President Donald Trump to end strikes on Russia’s energy sector, kyiv and its supporters fear that Washington will cut off its support on the battlefield to try to force it to make concessions at the negotiating table.

Ukrainian officials and their European partners were already struggling to understand the status of U.S. intelligence sharing after a lack of warning before two Russian ballistic missile strikes on kyiv this week caused confusion, two Ukrainian and two European officials told NBC News.

Trump insisted the United States always shared information, but with relations souring, Ukrainian officials and military units on Wednesday accused SpaceX of limiting technology critical to its battlefield communications and drone operations.

It was not immediately clear what might be behind the Starlink outages, although some Ukrainian officials said the timing could not be a coincidence given that Musk is a close ally of Trump.

Drone disruptions

SpaceX introduced speed limits overnight for the operation of its Starlink satellite Internet terminals, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s defense technical adviser Serhii Beskrestnov.

“Our defense forces did not receive any alerts about such a restriction, which led to the failure of a number of missions,” Beskrestnov said on Telegram. “It is obvious that this action cannot be a coincidence and is linked to the current political situation,” he added.

An army unit fighting in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said Wednesday it had been forced to cancel some planned operations.

The Ukrainian Air Assault Forces’ 7th Rapid Reaction Corps said it began “noting Starlink connectivity issues caused by data transfer speed limits” overnight, adding that the changes directly affected drones that use the service for in-flight control.

“Drones continued to fly, but interruptions made them more difficult to control,” he said in a statement.

Beskrestnov said restrictions were specifically placed on operating the military version of Starlink at speeds above 100 mph.

Starlink also played a key role in Ukraine’s air defense, as it was used to intercept jet drones that Moscow has unleashed on Ukrainian cities in recent months, he added. Asked about the importance of this technology, Ukraine’s charge d’affaires to the United States, Denys Sienik, said that “the technology helps us save the lives of civilians and prevent further destruction in Ukraine caused by the Russian side.”