Starshield restrictions help Russia’s energy attacks on Ukraine: Zelenskyy

Résumé détaillé

Starlink has recently denied restricting internet speeds, but Elon Musk suggested the US military could be behind it.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that speed restrictions by Starlink’s military-grade internet service had aided a wave of deadly Russian attacks across Ukraine.

Two people were killed on Saturday in a Russian drone attack on what Ukrainian officials called “critical infrastructure” in the northern Koriukivka region.

An energy facility was also hit in Odesa overnight on Sunday, leaving 41,000 households without electricity, Ukraine’s DTEK energy provider said in a Telegram statement.

Ukraine’s army said it shot down 106 of 132 Russian drones launched overnight.

Zelenskyy posted on X that Russia was targeting energy substations with Shahed drones, which both sides commonly attack each other with.

“And many of these strikes are getting through because restrictions on the operating speed of Starshield terminals along the front line and in the temporarily occupied territories are still there,” he posted, citing Starlink’s sister company and reiterating accusations that it was throttling internet speeds and hampering military operations.

The president said on Saturday that the internet restrictions had been in place for five days and that Starlink reported technical problems, but Ukraine does “not believe that is the case”.

It is the second such outage in recent weeks. Starlink, owned by US billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has denied restricting internet speeds. Last month, Musk said the United States government controls Starshield.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that it launched attacks targeting Ukraine’s military airfields, munitions depots and other military facilities.

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