Elon Musk ordered the shutdown of Starlink internet coverage near Kherson during Ukraine’s counteroffensive in September 2022, disrupting military operations and preventing Ukrainian forces from surrounding Russian positions, according to three sources familiar with the command, Reuters reported on 25 July.

According to Reuters, when Ukrainian troops attempted to reclaim territory from Russian forces, Musk instructed a senior SpaceX engineer to cut service in the strategic region north of the Black Sea. The order affected at least 100 Starlink terminals and extended to other Russian-occupied areas including parts of Donetsk province.

“We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving Musk’s directive, according to one source. Company staff complied with the order, causing hexagon-shaped cells to go dark on internal coverage maps.

The shutdown created immediate battlefield consequences for Ukrainian forces. Troops faced communications blackouts, surveillance drones lost connectivity, and artillery units struggled to target Russian positions without Starlink’s guidance systems. Ukrainian military officials and advisors confirmed the service failures occurred near front lines during the counteroffensive.

“The encirclement stalled entirely,” a Ukrainian military official told Reuters. “It failed.” The source said Ukrainian forces were unable to surround Russian positions in Beryslav, east of Kherson’s administrative center, due to the communications breakdown.

Despite the setback, Ukraine’s counteroffensive ultimately succeeded in reclaiming Beryslav, Kherson city, and additional occupied territory. However, the shutdown represents the first documented instance of Musk actively cutting Starlink coverage over an active battlefield during the war.

The decision “shocked some Starlink employees and effectively reshaped the front line of the fighting, enabling Musk to take ‘the outcome of a war into his own hands,'” according to another source.

Musk’s intervention contradicts his previous public statements about Starlink operations in Ukraine. In March, he wrote on X: “We would never do such a thing.”

This incident differs from a previously reported September 2022 case near the Black Sea, where CNN reported that Musk disabled Starlink near occupied Crimean coastline to prevent Ukrainian attacks on Russian naval forces. 

Neither Musk nor Nicolls responded to Reuters requests for comment. A SpaceX spokesperson called the reporting “inaccurate” and referenced a company post stating “Starlink is fully committed to providing service to Ukraine.” The spokesperson did not specify inaccuracies or answer detailed questions about the incident.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office and the Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.

Musk said, during a clash with Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on X, that,“No matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.” He claimed that without it, Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse.”

Russia seeks to retake Lyman in northern Donetsk Oblast, where it briefly established control in 2022, but Ukrainian forces say their defense remains solid and enemy advances are slow and costly. Offensives in the Lyman sector are part of Russia’s broader supporting efforts, secondary to its main operations in western Donetsk Oblast.

Ukrainian officer describes Russian tactics near Lyman

On 5 July, Maksym Bilousov, head of communications at the Ukrainian Army’s 60th Separate Mechanized Inhulets Brigade, told Suspilne that Russian troops are attempting to exploit any opportunity to break through Ukrainian lines near Lyman. He said Moscow’s goal is to seize the key city it occupied for nearly five months in 2022 at the early stages of the full-scale invasion.

“They push into any opening that appears by chance. Their goal is to capture Lyman, which they already took in 2022, but was later liberated by our Defense Forces,” Bilousov stated during the Suspilne.Studio broadcast.

Bilousov explained that while some Russian progress exists, it’s slow and demands substantial effort.

“Progress does exist, but it’s extremely slow. They spend so much time and so many resources to achieve even that,” he said. “We don’t currently see a threat to Lyman of such scale that would require sounding the alarm.”

He acknowledged that the situation remains difficult:

“Of course it’s hard, and there are a lot of them. But Ukrainian fighters are well-trained and hold the line.”

Lyman residents remain in city as tensions rise

Despite the renewed Russian push, thousands of civilians still live in the affected area. According to local authorities cited by Suspilne Donbas, as of 7 June, the Lyman hromada (community) remained home to 7,233 people, including 3,800 in the city of Lyman itself. The community also includes 168 children.

Lyman under occupation in 2022

Russia first captured Lyman early in the full-scale invasion, maintaining control for nearly five months. Ukrainian forces liberated the city on 1 October 2022 as part of the counteroffensive that followed gains in Kharkiv Oblast. 

The city’s strategic location near the northern edge of Donetsk Oblast has made it a recurring flashpoint in the war.