Starlink in Ukraine: Why is Mask's communications backbone network so important on the battlefield?

Starlink satellites, operated by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, provide high-speed internet service, something modern warfare greatly depends on.

Kiev has adopted this service as a vital tool for communications on the battlefield, and it also uses it in drone warfare.

Using Starlink, Ukraine's drones can maintain stronger communications with their operators over longer distances than traditional wireless networks, and are less susceptible to interference.

But a sudden restriction on the speed of drones connected to Starlink led to the disruption of some “missions” on the battlefield, according to a senior Ukrainian official.

Serhiy Beskrestnov also said that officials were not informed in advance of the 100 mph (160 km/h) speed limit imposed by SpaceX overnight Tuesday.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, by slowing the speed of networked drones to this relatively low limit, Ukrainian efforts to intercept Russian jet drones are almost useless.

George Barros of the institute said that Starlink constitutes "the backbone of military communications in Ukraine" and is widely used in Kiev's naval, land and air forces.

Barros, who is director of innovation and open source research technologies at the institute, explained to the BBC that these restrictions could have major repercussions, because this technology allows “drones, artillery, and command centers to operate within one real-time network, where the time between detection and carrying out a strike is reduced to a minimum.”

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Starlink does not operate inside Russia, but Ukrainian drones can use satellites to communicate with their operators during strikes. There is no ready alternative to this network.

Barros said that interceptor aircraft equipped with Starlink service are also among the most effective Ukrainian solutions against Russian Shahed jet drones.

Shahed planes fly at speeds exceeding 198 miles per hour, which means that the restrictions imposed by SpaceX make tracking and intercepting them almost impossible.

Tom Whittington, an expert in electronic warfare and associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told the BBC that the satellite system allows Ukraine to transmit large amounts of data - such as video, texts and voice calls - in a similar way to smartphones but without the infrastructure that phones need.

Whittington added that the speed restrictions "effectively prevent" anything connected to the network from exceeding 100 miles per hour, making it difficult to direct drones inside Ukraine and in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Meanwhile, Serhiy Beskrestnov, Zelensky's advisor, said he believes these restrictions are not a coincidence, and that they are linked to the recent tensions between Kiev and Washington.

US President Donald Trump criticized the long-range Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, and called for choosing a new president for Ukraine, in criticism repeated by Elon Musk.

Ukraine's complaint about these restrictions has drawn attention to both Starlink and Starshield, a military version of the network developed by SpaceX for the Pentagon.

Musk said the two systems are separate, but in many cases they share the same basic satellite technology.

In a post on the X platform, Musk hinted that the US government may be responsible for the slowdown affecting Ukraine's use of this technology.