A retiring House Republican issued a blunt warning to President Donald Trump's administration after Ukraine lost access to the military version of the Starlink satellite network, a key piece of its battlefield communications.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a retired Air Force general who has served in Congress since 2017, is so far the only Republican lawmaker to publicly criticize the administration over the restrictions, which Ukrainian officials blamed on the U.S. president.
“The Administration’s decision to reduce intel sharing to Ukraine & access to Starlink equates to aiding the invader & the war criminal who bombs cities,” Bacon posted on X. “Does the Administration think it will get ANY support for the remainder of the 119th Congress? Their agenda is dead unless they change paths.”
Ukraine said its military lost access without warning overnight to Starshield, the Pentagon-funded version of Starlink. Ukrainian officials and analysts concluded the move came from Washington, reported the New York Times. SpaceX, its chief executive Elon Musk and the Pentagon did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment.
The restrictions cut off terminals moving faster than 100 miles per hour, and Ukrainian officials said that disrupted drone missions against Russian supply lines and interceptors used to shoot down Russian drones.
“Clearly, this action cannot be a coincidence and is linked to the current political situation,” wrote Serhiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky on weapons technology.
“In effect, our partners’ actions are depriving us of one of the few ways we have to defend the country against jet-powered Shaheds,” Beskrestnov added.
The cutoff came as Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s energy grid overnight, according to Zelensky. That would be the largest such salvo of the war, according to the Times. The attack left 600,000 people in Kyiv without power.
Ukraine has stopped striking Russian oil refineries at Trump’s demand, even as Russia keeps hitting Ukrainian power plants.
Serhii Sternenko, a former Ukrainian defense ministry adviser, said Kyiv had gotten nothing in return.
“Trump was looking for any opportunity to undermine our defense capabilities,” Sternenko wrote on social media.
Zelensky has also said Ukraine stopped receiving early warnings about some Russian missile strikes. Trump said Tuesday that intelligence was still being shared, and Ukraine’s air force said it did receive warnings ahead of several later attacks that night.