President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that he plans to contact Elon Musk to discuss providing Starlink internet to the people of Iran.
Ukraine said it had worked with SpaceX to block Starlink internet terminals used by Russian forces, a move Kyiv described as a major setback for Moscow’s military operations.
The Ukrainian military uses tens of thousands of Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and drone operations, according to Reuters. Ukrainian officials said they recently found Starlink terminals connected to Russian long-range drones, prompting an emergency request from Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The Russian military has relied on unauthorized Starlink terminals for secure communications since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.
But Kyiv said it had worked with SpaceX to compile a “white list” of authorized Starlink terminals in Ukraine, allowing systems operating in Russia to be shut down.
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Russian soldiers standing with Starlink boxes in an unknown location. Ukraine said it had worked with SpaceX to block Starlink internet terminals used by Russian forces, a move Kyiv described as a major setback for Moscow’s military operations. (East2West News)
“The ‘whitelisted’ Starlinks are operational – Russian ports have already been closed,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a Telegram post, adding that the list was still being updated, Reuters reported.
The company said it could not independently confirm the full extent of the disruption but cited multiple sources in Ukraine who reportedly said the impact appeared to be significant.
Russian military bloggers also acknowledged the outage, with the pro-Russian Telegram channel Two Majors saying there had been a major failure of Starlink terminals on the Russian side since Wednesday evening, describing the block as “very unpleasant,” according to the East2West news agency.
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaking at the event. (Richard Bord/WireImage/Getty Images)
Ukrainian military sources close to the front told Reuters that Russian units are experiencing serious communication problems and are trying to switch to Russian-made satellite systems.
“All military orders have collapsed. Attacks have been halted in many areas,” Ukraine’s defense adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram, Reuters reported.
Some Russian frontline attacks have slowed or stopped due to the loss of Starlink communications, and other operations have been scaled back as units struggle to coordinate, according to East2West.
The outlet also reported that Russian forces will no longer be able to attach Starlink terminals to drones for guidance and battlefield communications, citing Ukrainian sources.
East2West said Russia has no domestic alternative to Starlink after it failed to establish its own satellite-internet system for advanced forces.
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Rows of Starlink satellite internet terminals stacked together at a Russian military base in an undisclosed location. (East2West News)
Amid the communications disruption, East2West reported that Russia had launched a new spy satellite on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Plesetsk military base.
The Starlink disruption comes as US-led talks aimed at ending the war continue. American officials say that the United States will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine until a peace agreement is reached.
