Several Ukrainian officials have reported that SpaceX unilaterally\nrestricted Starlink services in the country without prior warning. The\nrestrictions directly affected the effectiveness of Ukrainian\ncombat-drone attacks on Russian military positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur defence forces received no warning about these restrictions,\nwhich disrupted a number of missions,\u201d presidential adviser Serhiy\nBeskrestnov said in a Telegram post, Reuters reported on Thursday (15\nOctober 2026).<\/p>\n
One affected military operation involved drones flying at speeds\nabove 160km\/h. The drones reportedly remained airborne but became\nextremely difficult to control.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what we have observed, the connection drops for 10\u201320 seconds\nduring flight, even at speeds of 110\u2013120km\/h. The drone continues\nmoving, but becomes very difficult to control,\u201d a representative of the\n7th Rapid Response Corps said.<\/p>\n
The military unit added that technical problems had forced the\ncancellation of several missions. No official reason has yet been given\nfor the Starlink restrictions.<\/p>\n
Starlink was first activated in Ukraine in 2022, shortly after\nRussia\u2019s invasion began. Since then, the satellite-based internet\nservice has become a backbone of battlefield communications for\nUkrainian forces.<\/p>\n
Starlink is considered vital because of its resilience to electronic\nsignal jamming, particularly for operating long-range attack drones and\nlarge hexacopters.<\/p>\n
In 2023, SpaceX also refused to activate the Starlink network in the\nport city of Sevastopol, which was being considered as a launch point\nfor an attack on the Russian fleet.<\/p>\n
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the refusal was because he did not want\nthe company or himself to become directly involved in an escalation of\nthe war between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe objective was clearly to sink a large part of the Russian fleet\nat anchor. If the request had been approved, SpaceX would have been\nexplicitly involved in a major act of war and an escalation of the\nconflict,\u201d Musk wrote on his X account at the time.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/starlink-access-suddenly-restricted-without-warning-what-happened-1792068662", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }