MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. SpaceX limited the speed of Starlink satellite internet terminals used by the Ukrainian army overnight, Sergey Beskrestnov, Vladimir Zelensky’s external adviser and expert in communications and unmanned systems, said.
Below are the main facts on the subject.
Restriction of access
- SpaceX imposed restrictions on the operation of Starlink terminals for the Ukrainian army overnight, disrupting its operations, Sergey Sternenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, wrote on Telegram.
- Sternenko speculated that SpaceX had acted at the request of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
- Zelensky’s external adviser Beskrestnov later confirmed the reports on Telegram.
- According to him, the restrictions currently apply to the ‘military package’ of Starshield services, with the speed limit set at 100 miles per hour (about 160 kilometers per hour - TASS).
- This "disrupted a number of missions," Beskrestnov said.
- In his view, "this action cannot be a coincidence and has to do with the current political situation."
- Ukraine once again received no intelligence warning from its Western partners last night, Vladimir Zelensky said.
- The US warned Ukraine that it could suspend intelligence sharing, Zelensky said in an interview with NPR. According to him, Ukrainian generals reported that they had been notified of this possibility at the military level.
- Ukraine received no intelligence warnings regarding the first wave of Russian ballistic missile launches overnight into October 14, but warnings about subsequent attacks did come in, RBC Ukraine quoted Ukrainian Air Force Spokesman Yury Ignat as saying.
Consequences
- A slowdown in Starlink service is making it virtually impossible to launch medium-range drones, and some missions involving them have already been cancelled since the start of the day, the 7th Corps of the Ukrainian airborne assault troops reported on Telegram.
- The Ukrainian armed forces rely entirely on Starlink satellite internet, so the Kiev authorities must travel to the US to negotiate the lifting of access restrictions, Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) said.
- The Ukrainian army will no longer be able to counter Russian jet-powered drones due to the reduced speed of the US Starlink satellite Internet service, Zelensky’s external adviser on communications and unmanned systems, Beskrestnov, said.
- As the adviser pointed out, Kiev uses Starlink to counter jet-powered drones, but restrictions on its operation will now prevent the Ukrainian military from doing so.
- Beskrestnov said that through their actions Ukraine’s partners "actually deprive" Kiev of one of the few chances to intercept such drones.
- The slowdown of Starlink terminals caught the Ukrainian military by surprise, occurring entirely without warning, the British newspaper Financial Times (FT) wrote citing sources.
- The report says that Ukrainian drones relying on Starlink terminals are experiencing signal disruptions at speeds above 160 kmph.
- The reduction in intelligence-sharing from the United States, combined with Starlink's operational restrictions, is seriously hampering the Ukrainian military, unmanned aviation expert and CEO of the Center for Integrated Unmanned Solutions Dmitry Kuzyakin told TASS.
- According to him, the Kiev regime’s unchecked actions are irritating both the US president himself and a segment of the American establishment that has heavily invested in Ukraine.
- A number of cyber operations by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) against Russia may be disrupted or delayed due to SpaceX restricting the speed of Starlink satellite Internet terminals used by Ukrainian security agencies, Sergey Trukhachev, a technical and digital security expert, told TASS.
- He also noted that the SpaceX restrictions would directly impact the Ukrainian armed forces as well.
- This would primarily affect Ukrainian operators of high-speed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the expert added.
Response
- Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned US entrepreneur and SpaceX owner Elon Musk on social media platform X, amid reports that connection speeds for Starlink satellite internet terminals used by the Ukrainian military have been throttled.