Ukraine says Starlink's global outage hit its military communications
Ukraine's forces are heavily reliant on thousands of SpaceX's Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and some drone operations, as they have proved resistant to espionage and signal jamming throughout the three and a half years of fighting Russia's invasion.
Starlink experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline.
"Starlink is down across the entire front," Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, wrote on Telegram at 10:41 p.m. (1941 GMT) on Thursday.
He updated his post later to say that by about 1:05 a.m. on Friday the issue had been resolved. He said the incident had highlighted the risk of reliance on the systems, and called for communication and connectivity methods to be diversified.
"Combat missions were performed without a (video) feed, battlefield reconnaissance was done with strike (drones)," Brovdi wrote.
Oleksandr Dmitriev, the founder of OCHI, a Ukrainian system that centralises feeds from thousands of drone crews across the frontline, told Reuters the outage showed that relying on cloud services to command units and relay battlefield drone reconnaissance was a "huge risk".
"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.
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.
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Starlink react afta network glitch, as Musk order shutdown of Starlink satellite service for territory wey Ukraine retake from Russia
Billionaire Elon Musk don tok sorry afta Starling bin experience outage wia service bin go off and users no fit access am. Plenti users bin compain of how dem no fit use dia Starlink as dia internet no work again and dem wondr wetin cause am. Starlink confam say tru tru dia network go off and dem bin dey work to bring am back and solve di issue. "Starlink dey currently for network outage and we dey actively implement solution." Di new generation of Starlink owned by SpaceX satellites dey provide fast internet around di world. Di satellites dey provide broadband internet around di world, especially for remote places, wey include some kontris for Africa and challenging environments like Ukraine and Yemen. Dem also dey use am to connect remote areas of di UK to fast internet. For 2022, tests bin show say Starlink fit deliver internet speeds four times faster dan di average internet, according to di Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Howeva, afta di Starlink network go off Musk say dem dey work to restore am and e no go happun again. "Service go dey restored shortly. Sorry for di outage. SpaceX go remedy root cause to ensure say e no happun again," Musk tok for X. Wetin cause Starlink outage? According to Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink Engineering, na internal software service bin cause di outage wey make network go off. E say dem don restore di network and dem dey work to find wetin cause am so e no go happun again. "Starlink don dey mostly recova from di network outage, wey last for about 2.5 hours. Di outage na sake of failure of key internal software services wey dey operate di core network," Nicolls tok for X. Starlink for dia own reply say dem sabi how important e dey to dey connected, and dem beg say make pipo no vex for di kasala. How big Starlink presence be for Africa? Starlink dey operate for more dan 20 African kontris, wit Somalia, wey dey suffer from Islamist insurgency - give am10-year licence on 13 April, two days bifor Lesotho decide to give dem too. Starlink dey provide high-speed internet services to remote or underserved areas, e be a potential game-changer for rural areas wey no fit access traditional forms of connectivity such as mobile broadband and fibre. Dis na beco Starlink, instead of relying on fibre optics or cables to transmit data, dey use a network of satellites for low Earth orbit. Becos dem dey closer to di ground, dem get faster transmission speeds dan traditional satellites. Nigeria na di first African state to allow Starlink to operate, for 2023. Di company since dat time don grown into di second-biggest internet service provider for di most-populous kontri for Africa. But Starlink no still get any presence for South Africa - di most industrialised nation for di continent. Enterprising locals bin don find way to connect to di service by using regional roaming packages wey dem bin buy for kontris wia di service bin dey available. Starlink end am last year while Icasa bin also warn local companies say anybody wey dem catch, wey dey provide di service illegally fit face hefty fine. Yet wit an estimated 20% of South Africans not having access to di internet at all - many in rural areas - e fit dey beneficial for both Starlink and di goment to reach a compromise. For Starlink e fit bring more market, while satellite broadband fit help di goment achieve dia goal of providing universal internet access by 2030. Report say Musk order shutdown of Starlink satellite service for Russia-Ukraine war A Reuters report say during a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory from Russia for late September 2022, Elon Musk bin give order wey disturb di counteroffensive and reduce Kyiv trust for Starlink. Di report say Starlink na di satellite internet service wey di billionaire provide early for di war to help Ukraine military maintain battlefield connectivity. According to three pipo wey dey familiar wit di command, dem tell Reuters say Musk bin tell one senior engineer for di California offices of SpaceX, di Musk venture wey dey control Starlink, to cut coverage for areas wey include Kherson, a strategic region north of di Black Sea wey Ukraine bin dey try to reclaim. "We gatz do dis," Michael Nicolls, di Starlink engineer, tell colleagues as e receive di order, one of dis pipo tell Reuters. Di report say staff bin obey, di three pipo tell Reuters, say dem deactivate at least hundred Starlink terminals, dia hexagon-shaped cells go dark for internal map of di company coverage. Di move bin also affect oda areas wey Russia seize, including some of Donetsk province inside east. According to di report, sake of Musk order, Ukrainian troops suddenly face communications blackout, according to wetin one Ukrainian military official, advisor to di armed forces, and two odas wey experience Starlink failure near di front lines. Soldiers bin panic, drones wey dey survey Russian forces bin go dark, and long-range artillery units, wey dey rely on Starlink to aim dia fire, struggle to hit targets. As a result, di Ukrainian military official and di military advisor say, troops bin fail to surround a Russian position for di town of Beryslav, east of Kherson, di administrative center of di region of di same name. Meanwhile, Ukraine counteroffensive bin succeed to reclaim Beryslav, di city of Kherson and some additional territory wey Russia don occupy. But Musk order, wey neva dey previously reported, na di first instance of di billionaire actively shutting off Starlink coverage ova a battlefield during di conflict, Reuters report. Reuters report say Musk and Nicolls no respond to dia requests for comment. But one SpaceX tok tok pesin say through mail say wetin di news agency bin report dey "inaccurate" and refer reporters to X post earlier dis year wia di company say: "Starlink dey fully committed to provide service to Ukraine." Di office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and di kontri Ministry of Defence no respond to Reuters requests for comment. Starlink still dey provide service to Ukraine, and di Ukrainian military rely on am for some connectivity.
