Technology billionaire Elon Musk accused the Ukrainian military of violating the terms of service for the Starlink satellite network on Saturday, claiming the system had been utilized for offensive drone strikes. Writing on the social media platform X, Musk stated that Ukraine used the technology to conduct offensive operations to kill people and confirmed that a corresponding service loophole was closed the previous week.
The exchange followed statements regarding the operational status of Starlink and its military variant, Starshield. Ukrainian officials had previously reported that both systems were fully functional after experiencing more than a week of restrictions that disrupted military operations and heightened tensions with the United States. Donald Trump later remarked that Musk had restored connections to the network, though he did not clarify whether they had spoken directly.
Meanwhile, the broader conflict saw intensified violence across multiple regions on Saturday. In Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, a Russian drone attack killed three people and injured at least eight others, including an 11-year-old girl. Local authorities reported that the strike sparked a fire on the fourth floor of an apartment block and damaged a nearby shop and several vehicles.
Additional strikes impacted infrastructure on both sides of the front lines. Russia’s energy ministry reported that Ukrainian attacks cut power to parts of Crimea and Russian-controlled areas of eastern and southern Ukraine, impacting energy infrastructure in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. Moscow stated that temporary power cuts were implemented to maintain grid stability while repair crews worked to restore services.
In southwestern Siberia, an industrial zone in Russia’s Omsk region was targeted by Ukrainian drones, according to regional governor Vitaly Khotsenko. The governor did not provide an immediate assessment of the damage or confirm whether specific facilities were struck. The Omsk region is home to a major oil refinery operated by Gazprom Neft.
The escalation coincides with new figures released by the United Nations showing that Ukrainian civilian casualties in September rose by 85 per cent compared to the same period the previous year. The civilian toll involves a range of munitions, including first-person view drones, long-range glide bombs, ballistic rockets, and jet-powered Shahed cruise missiles deployed as winter approaches.
