By Sergiy Chalyi
DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, Oct 16 (Reuters) – For one artillery unit fighting in eastern Ukraine, the US decision this week to reduce services provided by satellite company Starlink to the military had an immediate impact.
Communications with headquarters were interrupted and internet speeds dropped, posing risks in a war where drones present a constant danger and up-to-date information on targets and threats can make the difference between life and death.
“Immediately after the announcement that the connection with Starlink was deteriorating, it really did have a negative impact,” said Ukrlan, a 28-year-old serving with an artillery unit of the Special Rifle Police Battalion.
He asked to be identified only by his callsign, in keeping with Ukrainian military practice.
“We felt it straight away,” he told Reuters from his bunker near the front line in the fiercely contested region of Donbas.
“The internet speed at our position had deteriorated significantly and communication with our headquarters and our command had deteriorated significantly.”
According to officials, the White House issued an order to limit SpaceX’s Starshield satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations.
A US official has denied that President Donald Trump ordered a deliberate slowdown of Starshield, and Trump said this week intelligence sharing with Ukraine continued.
Ukraine and its Western partners decried the slowdown as aiding Russia in the war, which began nearly five years ago with Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The US says it wants to end the war and is working towards doing so.
While much of the focus has been on Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink service, Ukrlan’s comments point to broader disruptions affecting internet connectivity and speeds.
ROAR OF THE GUN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told leaders in Brussels on Friday that Starlink services had improved but had not yet been fully restored, which he said put civilian lives at risk.
“Starlink is really necessary for Ukraine. And unfortunately, in short term, Europe can’t replace this capability,” said the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Ukrlan’s unit had been firing a howitzer at Russian targets from a heavily camouflaged position dug deep into the ground. Soldiers hurriedly prepared shells in a dark, timber-framed bunker by the light of head torches, covering their ears each time the gun roared and filled the space with smoke.
Ukrainian soldiers have said slower Starlink speeds have impaired the military’s ability to detect and intercept incoming missiles and drones.
The US move to temporarily restrict the system came as President Donald Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian oil refineries.
He has blamed those strikes for soaring energy prices that are denting his Republican Party’s prospects in the November midterm elections, although experts say that the spike is mainly the result of the US war with Iran.
For Ukrainians, the consequences of his approach are clear.
“At first he insisted very strongly that he would help us bring it to an end in a very short space of time,” Ukrlan said, referring to Trump’s promise to end the Ukraine war soon after his return to office.
“But we haven’t seen any sign of that at all. And things are just getting worse every day, every week.”
(Writing by Mike Collett-White;Editing by Ros Russell)
Comments