The tech tycoon had reportedly feared Kiev’s gains could trigger Moscow to retaliate with a nuclear strike, according to sources
Elon Musk ordered a shutdown of Starlink satellite coverage during Ukraine’s counteroffensive in September 2022, Reuters has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Starlink, a satellite internet service developed by Musk’s company SpaceX, has played a key role in maintaining connectivity for Ukrainian forces since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022. It has enabled the troops to coordinate operations, conduct surveillance, and operate drone systems across the front.
According to several anonymous sources, Musk had directed a senior engineer at SpaceX’s California headquarters to cut coverage in areas including Kherson Region and parts of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The order reportedly deactivated over 100 terminals, causing a communications blackout that disrupted reconnaissance and artillery targeting. Ukrainian officials told the outlet that the outage led to the failure of a planned encirclement of Russian forces.
Sources said the command was issued in late September and may have stemmed from Musk’s concern that Ukrainian gains could trigger a Russian nuclear response.
Neither Musk nor SpaceX have responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. A company spokesperson called the reporting “inaccurate” but did not specify what was disputed. The Pentagon, White House, as well as Ukrainian officials have also declined to comment.
The report follows a global Starlink outage on Thursday, which disrupted frontline communications for over two hours. Ukrainian commanders confirmed the disruption but said service has since been restored.
Musk has previously admitted to refusing a Ukrainian request to activate Starlink over Crimea, arguing that it would have enabled strikes on Russian ships stationed in Sevastopol and escalated the conflict. In 2023, he said doing so would have made SpaceX “explicitly complicit in a major act of war.”
Earlier this year, the billionaire also stressed that Starlink is “the backbone of the Ukrainian army,” and stated that if the system were to be turned off, Kiev’s “entire front line would collapse.”
Last month, the head of Russia’s Lugansk People’s Republic banned all SpaceX products, including Starlink, warning that they could be used to coordinate attacks. Officials in Moscow have long voiced concerns about the military use of the technology.
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