Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that Russia’s Starlink satellite internet terminals in Ukraine have been “cut,” disrupting Russian military communications.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said SpaceX, which owns Starlink, is working with Ukraine to update a “white list” of approved and verified Starlink terminals, while unapproved Russian systems have been blocked.
“The Starlink terminals added to the “white list” are working. The Russian terminals have already been blocked,” Fedorov said in a statement on Thursday. “We continue to verify the Starlink terminals. The first batch of terminals that entered the ‘white list’ are already operational.”
A source in the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces claimed that “all Russian Starlinks have been cut” along the front line as of Thursday evening local time.
Under US sanctions, Starlink cannot be sold to Russia or used by Russia. However, Ukrainian analysts and officials have warned that Russia is increasingly finding ways to exploit the system to its own advantage. CNN previously reported on Russia’s practice of attaching Starlink systems to its attack drones, which allow the weapons to bypass Ukraine’s electronic defenses that disable the drones by jamming GPS and radio signals, and strike deeper into the country.
Ukraine has also relied heavily on Starlink since the start of the war, using it to operate military communications and drones, as well as information systems for public institutions such as hospitals and schools.
“The enemy on the front lines is facing not only a problem, but a catastrophe. The entire command and control of the troops has collapsed. Attack operations have been stopped in many areas,” said Serhii Beskrestnov, adviser to the defense minister.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, said earlier this week that he was taking steps to stop Russia’s “unauthorized” use of the Starlink satellite internet constellation. Musk reiterated Thursday that it is “important to register your Starlink terminal if you are in Ukraine.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry did not address Starlink’s disruption claims.
But Russian military bloggers began commenting on the Starlink outage on Wednesday and Thursday, noting that Russia’s frontline internet and communications capabilities had taken a hit.
A pro-Kremlin military blogger, Boris Rozhin, wrote a post on Telegram in a Q&A style, where he said, “Yes, it will have some impact on the availability of the internet in the field,” and “yes, there is no alternative, at the moment.” He also claimed that Russian forces were working to bypass the block and bring high-speed internet to the area using other methods.
Another Russian military blog, which supports special forces in the air, tried to play down the disruption, writing: “The Starlinks may have been turned off, but the backup communications are still there. The radios are working, and there is communication between the positions.”
Some Starlink units used by the Ukrainian side have also been cut, although it is unclear how widespread the disruption is, as the government continues the whitelisting process.
A Ukrainian combat officer, Tetiana Chornovol, posted on social media that “the shutdown of Starlink left my two combat positions without communication,” adding that her unit has since brought in an alternative communication system.
“It works for us,” said a Ukrainian drone pilot in a video posted on Telegram. “We immediately registered our Starlink terminal, and everything is fine.”
The talks end with little progress
Meanwhile, the second round of trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States ended in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, who was part of his country’s delegation, described the negotiations as “really constructive.”
“I am grateful to the United States and the UAE for their organization and high-quality mediation,” Budanov told the Ukrainian news agency RBC-Ukraine.
While no breakthrough agreement emerged from the two days of talks, Russia and Ukraine agreed to hold their first prisoner exchange since October. Each returned 157 prisoners of war to the other side on Thursday, according to Russian state news agency TASS and US negotiator Steve Witkoff.
“While significant work remains, steps like this show that sustained diplomatic engagement is yielding tangible results and advancing efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” Witkoff said Thursday in a post on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiators agreed to hold another round of talks “in the near future.”
CNN’s Ivana Kottasová, Daria Tarasova-Markina and Sophie Tanno contributed to this report.
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