https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/02/07/russia-was-never-supposed-to-have-starlink-so-why-did-spacex-wait-so-long-to-cut-it-off
Russia was never supposed to have Starlink, so why did SpaceX wait so long to cut it off? โ€” MeduzaOnย February 4, pro-war military bloggers reported that Russiaโ€™s frontline troops had lost access toย Starlink satellite Internet. While Ukrainian forces have had official access toย Starlink since the start ofย the full-scale invasion, many Russian units have relied onย contraband devices asย aย key element ofย their battlefield communications. Until now, Elon Muskโ€™s SpaceX has appeared willing toย turn aย blind eye toย Russiaโ€™s unauthorized use ofย Starlink. Previous system failures that were mistaken for targeted outages turned out toย beย false alarms, and Ukrainian officials warned that cutting off Starlink access inย Russian-occupied territories would beย โ€œcatastrophicโ€ for Kyivโ€™s frontline drone warfare. This time, however, the outage isย not accidental: itย comes after Russian troops started equipping their own drones with Starlink enย masse and carrying out attacks onย the Ukrainian armyโ€™s rear positions. Now, Kyiv and SpaceX face the challenge ofย engineering aย Starlink blackout for the Russian side without hampering the Ukrainian military.meduza.io


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