Starlink grounded Ukraine's drones just as Trump is pressing Kyiv to leave Russian refineries alone

Overnight into Wednesday, without any prior notice, Elon Musk's SpaceX restricted the operation of Starshield - the military version of the Starlink satellite internet that the Ukrainian army relies on. Terminals on the move started losing their connection, and several missions failed. There was no explanation then, and there still isn't one now.

"This is comparable to a nuclear strike on us. All operations have stopped. It will cost many of us our lives," said a veteran Ukrainian officer who commands a medium-range drone strike unit in south-eastern Ukraine. His unit uses American Hornet drones to hit targets up to 150 kilometres away - and does all of it via Starlink.

The figures for the limit vary depending on who you ask, and that is part of the problem. The officer says terminal speed has been capped at 100 km/h. A Ukrainian Defence Ministry official talks of problems at speeds of 72 to 161 km/h, depending on the unit and the vehicle. The 7th Rapid Response Corps reported drop-outs of 10 to 20 seconds already at 110-120 km/h - enough for the drone to keep flying, but not to be controlled properly. Some missions had to be called off.

A coincidence with very good timing

The restriction came at a moment when US President Donald Trump is leaning hard on Ukraine to stop attacking Russian refineries. That follows his deal with Vladimir Putin to release diesel onto the world market - part of Trump's effort to bring down fuel prices ahead of next month's US midterm elections. "It is obvious that this measure cannot be a coincidence and that it is linked to the current political situation," wrote Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president.

EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius put it in diplomatic language: "Political developments sometimes have an unusual impact. Elections are approaching." Then he added a sentence that sounds like an admission: "We are quite dependent on American space capabilities. The answer to a situation like this is developing our own capabilities." Nicely put - except that Ukraine is fighting a war today, not after Europe has built its own.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski addressed the owner directly: "Hey, Elon Musk, big man, playing politics through your products again? We, your European customers, are watching what you do." The two already have history. In March 2025 Sikorski said Poland pays around 50 million dollars a year for Starlink in Ukraine and would look for another supplier if SpaceX proved unreliable. Musk replied with "Be quiet, small man" - and promised he would never switch off the terminals in Ukraine.

The September "message"

A Ukrainian drone pilot reported serious connection drop-outs on September 11 and 12, and again on September 17 - shortly after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrapped up visits to Kyiv and Moscow. "After a few days Starlink started working normally again. But I believe it was a message," he says. His argument: Russian jamming systems would struggle to cause such uniform outages across several sections of the front at once.

Nobody has yet confirmed whether the outage was deliberate. Ukrainian activist Serhiy Sternenko openly claims SpaceX acted at the request of the Trump administration, but there is no independent confirmation of that. Former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, meanwhile, reported that the connection is gradually coming back at speeds of up to 160 km/h - and thanked Musk. So: gratitude to the company that pulled the handbrake.

That's the real story. A private company, whose owner European ministers openly accuse of playing politics, can decide with a single overnight restriction how far an entire army's drones will fly. The Balkans learned long ago that an ally and a supplier are not synonyms. The question for every small country is simple: who holds your off-switch - and what will they ask for next time?