Starlink outages turn ‘catastrophic’ for Ukrainian forces amid ongoing counter-offensive

Ukraine’s defence forces have reportedly experienced outages with their Starlink communication equipment, causing obstacles in their attempts to regain control of Russian-occupied regions. The failures have resulted in a “catastrophic” loss of communication between Ukrainian soldiers deployed on the frontline in the past few weeks, according to an anonymous senior Ukrainian government official who spoke to The Financial Times.

Thousands of Starlink systems, which are manufactured by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, were provided to Ukrainian troops to operate drones, receive intel and ensure seamless communication between soldiers in regions that lack secure networks. Furthermore, the terminals also provide internet connectivity to Ukrainian civilians via a small antenna. 

In recent weeks, several outages were reported by Ukrainian fighters who moved into Russian-occupied areas including Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk, according to the senior official. The four regions were annexed by Russia following last month’s referendums. 

What could be the reason behind the outages?

Another anonymous official stated that the disruptions, which occurred after Ukrainian soldiers crossed territories to liberate Russian-held regions, prompted multiple calls of distress from soldiers to helplines. The coordinator of Serhiy Prytula Charity, an organization that facilitates Starlink donations to Ukrainian forces, said that the recent failures possibly occurred because of SpaceX’s attempt to avoid its misuse by Russian troops. 

“It is absolutely clear to me that this is being done by representatives of Starlink to prevent the usage of their technology by Russian occupation forces,” said coordinator Roman Sinicyn. 

Musk's role in the Russia-Ukraine war

The recent disruptions signify the crucial role of Musk’s communication systems in the Russia-Ukraine war. Recently, the 51-year-old billionaire came under fire for proposing peace plans to end the conflict. “Ukraine-Russia Peace: Redo elections of annexed regions under UN supervision. Russia leaves if that is the will of the people, Crimea formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake), Water supply to Crimea assured, Ukraine remains neutral,” he wrote in a Twitter poll. 

This sparked a reaction from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who asked in another poll on Twitter: “Which @elonmusk do you like more? - one who supports Ukraine, one who supports Russia.”