A previously unreported order by Elon Musk to cut satellite internet coverage over parts of Ukraine disrupted a key counteroffensive by Kyiv in the autumn of 2022, according to a Reuters investigation into the billionaire’s decision and its wider implications for countries increasingly dependent on his Starlink satellite service.
During a critical push in late September 2022 to reclaim territory from Russian occupation, Musk directed a senior engineer at SpaceX, the company behind Starlink, to disable satellite coverage in areas including Kherson a strategic region near the Black Sea three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
“We have to do this,” SpaceX engineer Michael Nicolls reportedly told colleagues after receiving Musk’s order. Employees then complied, deactivating at least 100 Starlink terminals. On the company’s internal systems, the hexagon-shaped cells indicating Starlink connectivity in those regions went dark, including some parts of Donetsk province further east that were also under Russian control.
The sudden blackout caught Ukrainian troops off guard. According to a Ukrainian military official, an advisor to the armed forces, and two others near the front line, soldiers faced immediate communication failure. Surveillance drones lost connection, artillery coordination broke down, and battlefield targeting suffered without Starlink support.
As a result, Ukrainian forces were unable to fully encircle a Russian position in the town of Beryslav, east of Kherson city. “The encirclement stalled entirely,” the military official said. “It failed.”
Although Ukrainian forces eventually succeeded in retaking Beryslav, Kherson city, and other occupied areas, Musk’s decision marked the first known case of him actively shutting down Starlink service over an active war zone. According to one of the sources who spoke to Reuters, the decision stunned some Starlink employees and altered the course of the fighting, effectively allowing Musk to “take the outcome of a war into his own hands.”
The Reuters report challenges Musk’s own account of Starlink’s use during the war. In March, Musk claimed in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “We would never do such a thing.”
Neither Musk nor Nicolls responded to requests for comment from Reuters. A SpaceX spokesperson, while denying the report’s accuracy in an email, referred to an earlier X post that said: “Starlink is fully committed to providing service to Ukraine.” The spokesperson did not identify what part of the Reuters report was inaccurate and declined to answer a detailed set of questions about the incident and Starlink’s ongoing role in the Ukraine conflict.
The Ukrainian presidency and the Ministry of Defence also declined to comment. Despite the 2022 incident, Starlink remains active in Ukraine and continues to provide connectivity to its military. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has publicly thanked Musk for the service as recently as this year.
Reuters
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