Ukraine has accused the United States of aiding Russia’s war effort after Starlink services were reportedly “throttled” overnight, while Kyiv received no advance warning of incoming Russian missiles.
Ukrainian officials said the restrictions disrupted drone operations near the front line early Wednesday. They also said Western partners had failed for a second consecutive day to alert Kyiv to an impending Russian attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.
“There have already been two cases where the Americans did not provide warnings about Russian ballistic launches, a massive ballistic attack against our energy sector… And on top of that they’ve throttled Starlink speeds,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
SpaceX imposed restrictions on some Starlink services in Ukraine, disrupting military drone missions that depend heavily on the satellite internet network, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
The Starlink terminals operated by Elon Musk’s company are essential to Ukraine’s longer-range drone strikes in Russian-occupied areas of the south and east. Those attacks have inflicted significant damage on Russian supply and logistics networks.
“Our defense forces did not receive a warning about this limitation, and this led to the disruption of several missions,” presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said in a post on Telegram.
Beskrestnov said SpaceX had halted the military-grade service when drones were traveling faster than 100 miles per hour, or 160 kilometers per hour.
Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps, which is deployed in the southeast, said the restrictions had forced some units to abandon planned missions.
“According to our observations, during flights, the connection could drop for 10–20 seconds at speeds of just 110–120 km/h. The drones kept moving, but these interruptions made them harder to control,” the corps said in a statement to Reuters.
A Ukrainian defense ministry source said the limitations were significantly complicating logistics as well as certain drone operations.
A woman receives assistance after being injured in a Russian strike on a residential apartment building in Kyiv during the early hours of October 14
A rescue worker tackles a fire at a multi-storey residential building in Kyiv damaged by a Russian missile strike on October 13
Residents keep a safe distance from an apartment building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on October 14
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment made outside normal US business hours.
The allegations followed heavy overnight Russian strikes that killed at least six people in Ukraine and left large parts of Kyiv without power, as Vladimir Putin continued to disregard Donald Trump’s proposed “energy ceasefire”.
The accusations emerged as Russian attacks overnight killed at least six people across Ukraine and cut electricity to extensive areas of Kyiv. The strikes came as Vladimir Putin continued to ignore Donald Trump’s proposed “energy ceasefire”.
Ukraine depends heavily on intelligence from Western allies to track incoming Russian attacks and help locate targets. However, renewed tensions with US President Donald Trump have raised questions about the future of those arrangements.
In Kyiv, a Russian strike on a multi-storey apartment building in the Desnianskyi district killed two people. Another attack in the Holosiivsky district claimed one life.
Russian strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region killed two people and injured six others, while one person was killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
AFP reporters in Kyiv heard multiple explosions overnight and said electricity and water supplies had been cut in the city’s eastern districts.
‘Energy facilities in Kyiv and the surrounding region have come under a massive ballistic missile strike. There are power disruptions in the capital,’ Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram, urging people to remain in shelters.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, said on Telegram that the attack caused emergency power cuts in the Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Pecherskyi and Solomianskyi districts, as well as in part of the Holosiivsky district.
Further Russian ballistic missile attacks were reported in Kharkiv and Zhytomyr regions, and other strikes hit Sumy and Chernihiv.
The governor of Russia’s Saratov region, citing preliminary estimates, said a Ukrainian drone strike had killed one person in the city of Balakovo.
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defence forces had downed nearly 500 drones flying towards the Russian capital overnight.
Russian authorities said around 160 more were brought down over the Rostov region, while others targeted Moscow.
Earlier, Zelensky said a Russian strike on a Kyiv power facility on Tuesday evening had come without Ukraine receiving advance warning from its Western allies.
‘A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Once again, no early warning from our partners,’ he wrote on Facebook.
DISCOVER MORE: Inside Shakhtar Donetsk’s Bombed-Out, Abandoned Home Stadium
‘The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically the CHP-4. Unfortunately, it was hit.’
Join the discussion
What do you make of Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine despite Donald Trump’s announcement of an ‘energy ceasefire’?
A man with a head wound who survived a Russian ballistic missile attack on a residential building in Kyiv’s Desnianskyi district on October 14
A dazed Victoria Deineko holds on tightly to her daughter Mia as rescue workers attempt to control a fire at a multi-story residential block hit by Russian missiles in Kyiv on October 13
A fire rages through an apartment building in Kyiv after a Russian missile strike on October 13
Ukrainian medics and policemen carry an injured resident from the site of a Russian missile strike on a block of flats in Kyiv on October 14
Zelensky said Ukraine’s systems picked up the missiles only as they were nearing the city.
‘This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches,’ he added.
Kyiv, which is home to some three million people, has come under increasing attack from Russian drones and missiles, with energy infrastructure a key target.
Overnight from Monday to Tuesday, Kyiv residents heard explosions from Russian strikes before even air raid sirens sounded, something that rarely happens.
Ukrainian officials attributed the issue to the Russian military’s use of hard-to-detect missiles or potential technical issues.
Trump announced an ‘energy ceasefire’ on his Truth Social network on Sunday, saying Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end their punishing long-range strikes on power infrastructure.
Zelensky voiced surprise at the news and said later strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure were President Putin’s ‘answer’ to Trump’s claim.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Zelensky for strikes on Russian oil refineries and on Saturday suggested it was ‘time for Ukraine to get a new president’.
The American leader has faced criticism from Zelensky, and a political backlash at home, for announcing plans last week to buy diesel from Russia despite wartime sanctions on Moscow.
In a statement on X, the Ukrainian leader accused Putin of disrespecting the Trump administration by flagrantly ignoring the ‘energy ceasefire’.
‘Overnight, the Russians used 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones and loitering munitions against our energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and Kharkiv,’ he wrote.
‘A targeted Russian ballistic missile strike specifically against energy infrastructure – the very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American President.
‘The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale – Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States.
‘Russia does not consider the American President’s statements strong.’
He said at least 600,000 people were without power and warned that outages could become even more widespread.
He added that at least 26 power facilities and four in the oil and gas sector had been significantly damaged.
Infrastructure belonging to Ukraine’s state railway was also targeted.
‘The American President has all the effective and necessary tools to bring peace closer through strength, justice, and pressure on the aggressor,’ Zelensky continued.
‘We ask for additional packages of Patriot missile interceptors for Ukraine.
‘It is entirely fair for us to tell the United States, Europe, and all our partners that no country in the world should be left alone to face such a deranged and pro-war actor as Russia.’
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.