Global Outage Hits Musk’s Starlink, Disrupts Ukrainian Frontline Operations

By Staff, Agencies

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system suffered a major global outage on Thursday, briefly cutting communications to tens of thousands of users—including Ukrainian forces relying on the network for frontline operations.

The outage began around 3:13 p.m. ET [7:13 p.m. GMT], according to internet analyst Doug Madory from Kentik. Musk apologized in a post on X, saying, “Service will be restored shortly. Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Starlink issued a short statement confirming the disruption: “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution.”

Ukraine uses over 40,000 Starlink terminals to maintain communications for infrastructure and military coordination. Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said the outage lasted two and a half hours and affected the entire frontline. “Connectivity has been fully reestablished along the entire front line,” he reported on Telegram early Friday.

Musk has had a tense relationship with Ukrainian officials, frequently calling for negotiations with Russia and warning against escalation between Moscow and the West. He has also criticized President Vladimir Zelensky for postponing elections under martial law and once claimed Zelensky was “despised by the people of Ukraine.”

Still, Musk has pledged not to cut off Starlink service to Ukraine’s military. “To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals,” he wrote earlier this year.