The Ukrainian army is deeply dependent on the Starlink system, and Musk can turn it on or off depending on how he wants to influence the war’s course
Starlink arrived in Ukraine in February 2022 as an improvised “digital lifeline,” enabling the military and civil authorities to maintain fast, secure, and mobile communications where terrestrial networks had been destroyed or disrupted. Since then, Elon Musk’s satellite constellation has become one of the war’s key technological pillars—but also a source of geopolitical unease, as a private owner now holds the power to alter the battlefield with a single command.
Musk’s Foreign Policy Views and the Question of Whose Side He’s On
Although SpaceX publicly declared that it “supports Ukraine” immediately after Russia’s invasion, Musk has taken a pragmatic, almost businesslike stance from the start. In October 2022, he posted a Twitter poll proposing a peace plan based on Ukrainian neutrality and permanent cession of Crimea to Russia—sparking outrage in Kyiv and praise in Moscow.
The Kremlin welcomed the proposal, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasizing that Musk was “seeking a peaceful solution that respects Russian conditions.” Ukraine accused Musk of rewarding aggression, while the billionaire insisted he was only trying to prevent nuclear escalation and avoid “unnecessary loss of life.”
As such, Musk’s foreign policy orientation doesn’t fit neatly into a “pro-Ukraine vs. pro-Russia” binary. He advocates solutions that—according to his view—minimize geopolitical risk to global supply chains and SpaceX’s increasingly government-dependent portfolio, worth over $22 billion in contracts.
At the same time, in the U.S., he entered a public spat with Donald Trump over budget policy, announced plans to start his own political party, and criticized military spending—distancing himself from the Washington establishment. This approach—anti-escalation but inclined to compromise with the stronger party and focused on protecting business interests—makes Musk an unpredictable actor. He formally declares neutrality, but his actions can help or hinder either side depending on his risk assessment.
Key Incident: The Herson Disconnection
A detailed Reuters report revealed that in late September 2022, during a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Musk ordered a SpaceX engineer to deactivate Starlink coverage over parts of the Donetsk and Kherson regions. Ukrainian troops lost communications during a crucial phase of surrounding Russian positions.
On the ground, drones lost video feeds, and artillery units lost the ability to guide fire accurately. The encirclement operation around Beryslav came to a complete halt—confirmed by Ukrainian officers and independent observers. Ukraine later captured the city, but the event demonstrated that a civilian entrepreneur could, both technically and legally, change the dynamics of the front with a simple network setting change.
Starlink as Strategic Infrastructure
Starlink is the first commercial network of low-orbit satellites at about 550 km altitude. Over 7,900 active satellites form an optically linked network that routes traffic above the atmosphere and delivers it to the nearest ground gateway. The user terminal, about the size of a pizza box, uses phased-array antennas for mobile connectivity. The result: latency comparable to 5G, resistance to standard jamming, and full mobility.
By April 2025, Ukraine had received over 50,000 terminals—half funded by Poland, the rest by the U.S., Germany, and other donors, with an initial donation from SpaceX itself. The terminal can be deployed, powered on, and connected to satellites within a minute—an essential advantage in a warzone.
Why the Starlink Network Is Crucial to Ukraine’s Military
Ukraine’s tactics rely on decentralized drone systems and real-time data-driven artillery. Starlink provides broadband connectivity for high-resolution drone video streams, HIMARS coordination, and civil-military logistics; it’s flexible enough to follow advancing units. When the entire network went down for two and a half hours in July 2025 due to a software glitch, Ukrainian drone units had to delay operations, and reconnaissance was conducted “blind.”
Commander Robert Brovdi warned Reuters that total dependence on a single provider poses a “huge risk,” and called for development of local, offline communication systems. The incident highlighted that while Starlink’s tech superiority offers massive advantages, it also carries enormous risk—if the software fails or the owner flips a switch, the front goes silent.
How the System Can Be Disabled
Starlink allows geofencing—defining zones where terminals won’t authorize traffic. SpaceX engineers, acting on Musk’s orders, used this mechanism to disable terminals in 2022. The codes, keys, and coordinate lists are stored in the company’s central system, meaning control over the network is effectively personalized. Technically elegant, but from a security perspective it sets a precedent in which a private corporation—without formal accountability under international law—controls battlefield communications access.
Musk, Starlink, and the Loyalty Question
So whom does Musk really support? His decisions suggest he primarily protects his own assessment of global stability and SpaceX’s contractual interests. If he believes a Ukrainian advance might provoke a Russian nuclear response, he cuts the signal. If the Pentagon or NATO needs a satellite launch, he delivers it faster and cheaper than anyone else. In that sense, his foreign policy is fluid, but closely tied to the interests of his own ventures and reputation management.
Implications for Ukraine and Beyond
Ukraine receives top-tier technology that allows it to challenge a much stronger adversary—but at the cost of vulnerability, not only to Russian jamming, but to Musk’s own risk assessments. For other countries, Starlink serves as a lesson in the need to diversify satellite systems, develop their own constellations, or at least establish contractual safeguards that prevent unilateral service cutoffs.
In the war in Ukraine, Elon Musk has become an unexpected “private minister of telecommunications.” His political moves—from peace tweets to Starlink shutdowns—reveal a player operating outside traditional state power structures. For Ukraine’s military, Starlink is both a blessing and an Achilles’ heel: it enables agile, encrypted command—but it’s controlled by a man whose geopolitical calculations are personal. For modern armies, this means that cutting-edge tech superiority might be here today, gone tomorrow.
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