Typically, residents of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities that are subject to bot attacks receive warnings already several hours before the attacks. Then it was the USA that discovered that the Russians were preparing for the launch of, for example, Iskander robots. This gives the air defense the opportunity to increase preparedness and civilians get the chance to get to safety in advance.
On Monday evening, when I and many other Kyivites were still out on the town, the unmistakable sound of missiles striking the outskirts of town was suddenly heard. Only after a handful of explosions did the air raid alarm go off. During Tuesday evening and the night of Wednesday, the alarm sounded for a few seconds - then loud bangs. Anyone who was not in a shelter could not possibly get there.
This weekend, US President Donald Trump threatened to stop providing Ukraine with intelligence if the country does not refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries. Now he has made the threat a reality, according to Ukraine, which states that it did not receive any advance information about Russia's firings. Trump himself claims that the US still shares intelligence information with Ukraine.
After four and a half years of full-scale war, spending every night in a shelter or in a tent bed at the nearest metro station is no longer an option for many Ukrainians. People plan parts of their lives according to these warnings.
During the night of Wednesday, at least four people were killed and around 20 were injured in Kiev. Trump's way of punishing Ukraine may thus have already caused civilian casualties - despite the fact that it is mainly Russia that is violating the "energy truce" that the US president presented this weekend, without having anchored it with the warring countries.
Trump now appears to have taken a further measure to throttle Ukraine's defense capabilities.
If the limitation of the satellite system becomes permanent, it could mean the end of Ukraine's successful period in Donbass.
On Wednesday morning, Sergej "Flash" Beskrestnov, a drone expert and Zelensky's advisor, stated that access to the Starlink system had been restricted. It should now not work to control projectiles moving faster than 160 kilometers per hour.
"Our defense forces were not warned about the restriction, and this led to the cancellation of several missions," he writes on Telegram.
Ukraine does not depend on US weapons to carry out the attacks on Russian oil facilities, which Trump wants to stop, but on Starlink. Access to the satellites is also something that gives the country a big advantage on the front line.
Knocking out Russian logistics with Starlink-controlled drones has been a key factor in Ukraine's "Operation Vivaldi" offensive. If the limitation of the satellite system becomes permanent, it could mean the end of Ukraine's successful period in Donbass.
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