After the New York Times reported that Russia has been increasingly disrupting Ukraine's Starlink service, Elon Musk said that SpaceX is spending "significant resources combating Russian jamming efforts," in a May 24 post on X.
Elon Musk's SpaceX company began providing the Starlink terminals to Ukraine shortly after the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022. Last year, Ukraine said that approximately 42,000 terminals were in operation across the military, hospitals, businesses, and aid organizations.
Starlink, recognized for its superior security compared to cellular or radio signals, is deemed crucial for Ukrainian operations. The Pentagon reached an agreement last year with SpaceX to financially support access for the Ukrainian military.
According to the New York Times, Russians have caused widespread outages of Ukraine's Starlink use during its offensive near Kharkiv, disrupting soldiers' abilities to communicate, conduct intelligence, and carry out drone attacks.
The U.S. Pentagon is preventing the Russian military from using Starlink internet terminals operated on the battlefield in Ukraine, John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, said in an interview with Bloomberg on May 9, though he did not specify how.
Nate Ostiller
