Starlink outage cuts off Ukrainian frontline drone units during overnight global disruption

A major Starlink outage temporarily knocked out battlefield communications across parts of Ukraine's frontline, according to senior Ukrainian commanders.

The outage, which lasted around two-and-a-half hours overnight from Thursday into Friday, was reported to be caused by an internal software failure affecting tens of thousands of users worldwide.

"Starlink is down across the entire front," wrote Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's drone forces, on Telegram at 22:41 local time. He later updated his post to confirm that service had resumed by 01:05.

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Ukrainian forces have relied heavily on thousands of Starlink terminals for secure communications and drone operations since the early months of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Mr Brovdi said combat missions continued during the outage, but drone strikes were carried out without video feed, and battlefield reconnaissance had to adapt accordingly.

He said the disruption highlighted the risks of relying solely on Starlink and called for communication and connectivity methods to be diversified.

Oleksandr Dmitriev, founder of OCHI – a Ukrainian system that centralises video feeds from thousands of drone crews – told Reuters the outage revealed a "huge risk" in using cloud-based platforms for real-time coordination.

"If connection to the internet is lost... the ability to conduct combat operations is practically gone," he said, calling for a move towards local communication systems that are not reliant on the internet.

The incident comes after earlier controversies surrounding Starlink's role in the war.

In 2023, reports emerged that Musk refused to enable Starlink access near Crimea during a planned Ukrainian operation, prompting criticism in Kyiv.

Although Starlink does not operate in Russia, Ukrainian officials have said that Moscow's troops are also widely using the systems on the frontlines in Ukraine.