Starlink blackout disrupted 2022 Ukraine offensive, report says

Elon Musk directed the shutdown of Starlink satellite service over part of Ukraine’s Kherson region during a key counteroffensive in the fall of 2022, according to a Reuters report published on 25 July.

Citing three unnamed sources familiar with the incident, Reuters said Musk instructed a senior engineer at SpaceX to cut coverage near the town of Beryslav, where Ukrainian troops were attempting to trap Russian forces.

The sudden loss of satellite connectivity reportedly disrupted drone operations and artillery coordination on the front lines, hindering Ukrainian efforts in the area. One Ukrainian military source told Reuters the service blackout directly impacted the failure of that encirclement attempt.

Although Ukrainian forces went on to retake Kherson city and surrounding areas on the western bank of the Dnipro River in November 2022, the blackout raised serious concerns within the Ukrainian and U.S. defense establishments at the time.

SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite system, has not confirmed the shutdown. Musk has publicly denied similar claims in the past, stating on 9 March via X (formerly Twitter), “To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.”

The report came just a day after Starlink experienced a rare global outage on 24 July.