Overnight on Wednesday, Ukraine said its military had lost partial access to Starlink, a pillar of its communications, while Russia unleashed dozens of ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure, cutting power to 600,000 people in the capital.
Ukraine interprets the development as a move by the Trump administration to limit its capability to fight, as Trump is pushing Zelensky to stop attacking oil refineries so that Putin can sell more diesel to the global market.
Starlink is used in part to guide Ukraine’s growing fleet of drones, while leaving Russia free to wage war. Overnight an air assault included a barrage of 39 Russian ballistic missiles, the largest salvo of the entire war.
Kyiv says it is abiding by Trump’s self-declaration of a ceasefire on energy sources out of fear that Trump would follow through on an apparent threat to stop providing intelligence that would warn the people of Ukraine of incoming Russian strikes.
The Trump administration views the cease-fire as covering only strikes on oil refineries, even though Ukraine has none that are operational.
SpaceX, which operates Starlink, and its chief executive, Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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