Ukraine accuses Elon Musk’s SpaceX of throttling Starlink terminals

Officials say ability to block Russian drones restricted as Kyiv reels from second night of ballistic missile attacks.

Al JazeeraAl Jazeera Staff2026-10-14 17:02查看原文 ↗

Officials say ability to block Russian drones restricted as Kyiv reels from second night of ballistic missile attacks.

Rescuers work at the site of a house damaged by a Russian drone strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, October 14 [Reuters]

Ukrainian officials have accused SpaceX of throttling Starlink satellite services, disrupting its ability to carry out military operations and leaving Kyiv vulnerable to deadly attacks.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that without warning, services had been limited for terminals travelling over 100mph overnight on Wednesday – effectively limiting Ukraine’s ability to launch drones, which use satellite internet to pilot the craft.

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Writing on Telegram, defence technology adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said Ukraine was “deprived of one of the few chances to defend itself from Shahed drones”.

He added that frontline logistics and long-distance missions were also disrupted.

The suggestion that Elon Musk’s company had throttled Starlink services drew the ire of Poland, which pays for Ukrainian Starlink subscriptions on Kyiv’s behalf.

“Hey Elon Musk, big man, are you playing politics with your products again?” wrote Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister. “As your European customers, we are watching you.”

The “big man” jibe refers to a public dispute on social media between Musk, Sikorski and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio in 2025, when the SpaceX boss told Sikorski to “ be quiet, small man ” on his X platform.

The clash broke out when Musk, the trillionaire former senior adviser to US President Donald Trump and key midterm election donor for his Republican Party, said that Ukraine’s “entire frontline could collapse” if he switched off Starlink.

He later said, “No matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals … We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip.”

‘Cannot be a coincidence’

The slowdown comes after Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv for the second night in a row, killing at least nine people and damaging electricity and heating infrastructure.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine did not receive its usual warnings from Western allies, without specifying which partners.

Trump said the US has not stopped sharing intelligence.

Beskrestnov warned that the slowdown “cannot be a coincidence” after Trump struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel – despite international sanctions to isolate Moscow.

Speaking to AFP, another Ukrainian official accused Washington of throttling Starlink and helping Russia.

On Saturday, Trump suggested Zelenskyy had not done enough to end the war with Russia, blaming him for high diesel prices in the US.

官员称，由于基辅连续第二晚遭受弹道导弹袭击，拦截俄罗斯无人机的能力受到限制。

10月14日，救援人员在乌克兰扎波罗热一处被俄罗斯无人机袭击受损的房屋现场进行救援工作。[路透社]

乌克兰官员指责SpaceX公司限制星链卫星服务，扰乱了乌克兰开展军事行动的能力，使基辅容易遭受致命袭击。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基的一位顾问警告说，周三晚间，时速超过 100 英里的航站楼在没有任何预警的情况下被限制了服务——这实际上限制了乌克兰发射无人机的能力，因为无人机使用卫星互联网来操控飞行器。

列表 1/4 乌克兰能熬过冬天吗？

俄罗斯和乌克兰在“能源停火”前景不明朗之际，因贸易摩擦而引发的四场冲突中的第二场

列表 3/4 “封锁、钝化、突破”：北约新的对俄战争计划包含哪些内容？

列表 4/4：俄罗斯对乌克兰发动“大规模”袭击，造成至少 9 人死亡，并损毁多个电力设施

国防技术顾问谢尔盖·别斯克列斯特诺夫在 Telegram 上发文称，乌克兰“失去了为数不多的几次抵御‘沙赫德’无人机的机会之一”。

他还补充说，前线后勤和长途任务也受到了干扰。