Watch: What we know about Russia’s overnight strikes on Ukraine
New restrictions on the speed at which some of Ukraine’s weapons can travel and still connect to the Starlink internet network have disrupted Ukraine’s battlefield “missions”, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser has warned.
Serhiy Beskrestnov said Ukraine had not been told about speed limits set overnight at 100mph (160km/h) by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
Starlink is a vital tool allowing Kyiv to effectively guide drones to Russian targets and also protect Ukrainian skies.
Beskrestnov said SpaceX’s move “cannot be a coincidence and is related to the current political situation”. The firm has not commented.
In Wednesday’s post on Telegram, Beskrestnov said SpaceX had “implemented overnight a speed limit on Starlink terminals” and this had already resulted in “the disruption of a number of missions”.
This comes as at least 600,000 people across Ukraine were left without electricity after deadly overnight Russian missile and drone strikes, Zelensky said.
He said “critical” energy infrastructure had been hit in Kyiv and the capital region, and in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv – despite US President Donald Trump’s claim on Sunday that an “energy ceasefire” was in place between Russia and Ukraine.
Three people were killed in Kyiv, local officials said. Russia said its “massive” strikes had hit communications and energy facilities used by Ukraine’s military.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.
In the follow-up post, Zelensky’s adviser stressed that Starlink was the most effective tool for enabling interceptors to shoot down Russia’s newly developed jet-propelled drones.
The Starlink system has become a vital tool to give troops in Ukraine internet access [Reuters]
A source in the Ukrainian defence ministry later told the BBC: “Last night, we detected restrictions affecting Starlink connectivity at speeds above 160 km/h.” The source added that the “root cause” of the issue was being investigated.
Defence ministry sources later explained that “once a vehicle or asset exceeds this [160km/h] threshold speed, the terminal loses its connection”.
They told the BBC that this made it more difficult to carry out drone operations, “specifically interceptors and middle-strike drones”, and also degraded “capabilities for front line logistics, reconnaissance, and signal relaying”.
Musk’s SpaceX has not commented on the reported speed restrictions.
Zelensky has said the US threatened to restrict intelligence sharing if he did not sign up to Trump’s energy ceasefire. Trump on Tuesday denied that Washington was withholding intelligence.
Overnight, Russia had launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones, and that four of those missiles and 115 drones had been shot down, according to Ukraine’s air force.
It is the second night in a row Kyiv has been hit by Russian missiles, and came as Zelensky prepared to meet UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss accelerating air defence supplies to Kyiv.
During the past two nights, ballistic missiles have struck targets in the Ukrainian capital without any warning, before air raid sirens could be sounded.
Ukraine relies on US satellite systems to track Russian missiles in order to issue alerts and to try to shoot them down.
People watched the emergency services at work at the scene of the strikes in Ukraine [Getty Images]
Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry said 902 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight over a number of Russian regions, including the capital Moscow and Crimea – Ukraine’s southern peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
On Sunday, Trump wrote in a post on social media: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”
Zelensky has since repeatedly said Ukraine is ready to halt its strikes on Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities if Moscow did the same.
But Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Ukraine does not deserve the “respite” a ceasefire would bring. Under any truce, he added, Europe would be able to “pump [Ukraine] with new weapons”, enabling it to continue the war.