Starlink restriction 'no surprise' after Musk condemned Ukraine strikes on Russian data centres

Home Europe To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 07:43 Issued on: 14/10/2026 - 21:49 Restrictions reported by Ukraine on its use of the US satellite internet system Starlink have exposed Kyiv's reliance on the technology for both offensive and defensive operations in its fight against Russia'a invasion, analysts and observers say. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, David Galbreath Professor of War and Technology at the University of Bath, says that "we always knew that allowing a private organisation like Starlink to have such a big impact on the combat operations in Ukraine was going to be challenging", explaining that "it is no surprise" that Starlink services had been throttled after SpaceX boss Elon Musk called the targeting by Ukrainian drones of data services in Russia "a step too far". Keywords for this article