Ukraine has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of disrupting Starlink services used by its military drones, as Russian missile attacks damaged power stations and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.
The developments come as relations between Kyiv and Washington deteriorate following US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel last week and his public criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump, facing political pressure to reduce fuel prices that have risen since the US launched a war against Iran, has urged Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries and said Ukrainians should replace their wartime leader.
The US president also announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop attacks on energy targets, although neither side confirmed the agreement. Russian forces have continued intensive bombardments, including attacks on Ukrainian power stations.
Ukrainian military officials said SpaceX had interrupted the operation of military-grade Starlink terminals moving at high speeds without prior warning, disrupting the use of the satellite internet system to guide drones.
“Our defence forces did not receive a warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions,” presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov wrote on Telegram.
The reported restrictions prompted a strong response from Poland, which pays for Ukraine’s Starlink subscriptions.
“Hey, @elonmusk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again?” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked Musk on X. “As your European customers, we are watching you.”
Musk did not immediately respond, while SpaceX did not immediately reply to a request for comment outside US business hours. Musk has previously referred to Sikorski as a “small man”.
The possibility of restrictions on Starlink has heightened Ukrainian concerns that Washington could withhold battlefield support to pressure Kyiv into making concessions to Russia. Musk is a close political ally of Trump.
Sources have told Reuters and other news organisations that the US has threatened to cut off intelligence used to provide early warnings of missile strikes on Ukraine to pressure Kyiv to suspend attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Meanwhile, Russian missile attacks overnight killed two people and wounded 21 others at a residential building in Kyiv, where rescue workers removed injured people from the wreckage as firefighters battled a major blaze.
About 600,000 people were left without electricity after Russian missiles struck power stations during hours of attacks primarily targeting Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed that its forces had struck four power plants in and around Kyiv and two in Kharkiv, among other targets. Zelenskiy said more than 30 power stations had been damaged.
Ukrainian officials said they had received no warnings from Western partners for a second consecutive day before the large-scale attacks. Trump had insisted on Tuesday that Washington was still sharing intelligence with Kyiv.
Zelenskiy described the Russian strikes as a deliberate challenge to Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire on energy targets.
“Russia does not consider the American President’s statements strong,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale – Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States.”
Zelenskiy has said Ukraine is willing to observe an energy ceasefire and has not targeted Russian refineries since Trump announced it. However, he warned that Kyiv would not continue to hold back if Russia ignored the reported truce.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that contacts were continuing over an energy ceasefire.
Ukraine reported shooting down only four of 39 Russian missiles, highlighting the difficulties facing its air defences against fast-moving ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones amid a shortage of weapons.
Although Starlink does not operate inside Russia and Ukrainian drones targeting Russian oil facilities use other communication methods, Kyiv relies on Musk’s satellite system to guide drones over Ukrainian territory, including areas occupied by Russia.
Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps, deployed in the southeast, said Starlink connections had been dropping intermittently during drone flights.
“According to our observations, during flights, the connection could drop for 10–20 seconds at speeds of just 110–120 km/h. The drones kept moving, but these interruptions made them harder to control,” the corps said in a statement to Reuters.
A source in Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said the restrictions significantly complicated logistics and some drone operations.
Starlink has been a crucial part of Ukraine’s battlefield communications since the service was activated over the country in the early days of Russia’s invasion in 2022. Its resistance to electronic signal jamming has made it an important tool for operating long-range attack drones and drones used to deliver supplies to frontline troops.
Boluwatife Enome
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