Starlink Cuts Off Ukrainian Drones

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep! We’re under-caffeinated and don’t have anything clever to say today, and here’s why: We’re getting ready to head off to the Munich Security Conference, one of the most consequential gatherings of world leaders, starting Feb. 17. SitRep will be on call with a special behind-the-scenes look, just as the war in Ukraine reaches an inflection point. Sign up for daily reports direct to your inbox here.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: SpaceX founder Elon Musk switches off Starlink for Ukraine’s drones, Congress takes another stab at reining in Joe Biden’s presidential war powers, and London debates whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

If you would like to receive Situation Report in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep! We’re under-caffeinated and don’t have anything clever to say today, and here’s why: We’re getting ready to head off to the Munich Security Conference, one of the most consequential gatherings of world leaders, starting Feb. 17. SitRep will be on call with a special behind-the-scenes look, just as the war in Ukraine reaches an inflection point. Sign up for daily reports direct to your inbox here.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: SpaceX founder Elon Musk switches off Starlink for Ukraine’s drones, Congress takes another stab at reining in Joe Biden’s presidential war powers, and London debates whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

If you would like to receive Situation Report in your inbox every Thursday, please sign up here.

Ukraine’s military success, such as it has been, has hung on a lot of things outside of Kyiv’s control: Western (and especially American) military support, an army of crowdfunders outside of the country, and an unpredictable software impresario who was once the world’s richest man.

Now, Elon Musk-founded SpaceX, which sent more than 5,000 Starlink satellite internet dishes to Ukraine in the days after Russia’s full-scale invasion last February, said it plans to limit the use of the internet portal for what it deems to be “offensive” military operations. SpaceX alleges that Ukrainian troops have used the Starlink portals to control drones to attack Russian forces.

“It was never intended to be weaponized, but the Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said at a Federal Aviation Administration conference in Washington on Wednesday. “We know the military is using them for comms, and that’s OK. But our intent was never to have them use it for offensive purposes.”

Specifically, Shotwell said the military’s use of the portals violated user agreements, but she did not provide any details on how Ukraine’s military used the systems beyond drone attacks.

Love-hate relationship. Nevermind the weirdness of a Silicon Valley company, let alone one run by the owner of Twitter, determining what constitutes an “offensive” military operation. The company’s decision to curb Starlink access continues a love-hate relationship between Musk and Ukraine.

Portable internet hubs have been a game-changer for Ukraine’s military, keeping units out in the field connected amid the devastation of Ukraine’s electricity and internet infrastructure.

In November 2022, CNN reported that 1,300 of Ukraine’s Starlink satellite dishes temporarily went out, just two months after SpaceX sent a letter in September of that year to the U.S. Defense Department saying it could no longer fund Starlink in Ukraine after spending nearly $100 million propping up the war-torn country’s internet service.

And meanwhile, Musk outraged top Ukrainian officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, in October 2022 by tweeting out a (seemingly) self-initiated peace plan (that mirrored Moscow’s talking points) to end Russia’s full-scale invasion that would leave the Kremlin in control of the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian officials see Shotwell’s comments as another turning point in the relationship.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelensky, tweeted on Thursday that Musk would have to decide whether he was with Ukraine’s right to freedom or Russia’s will to try to illegally seize sovereign territory. “#SpaceX (Starlink) & Mrs. #Shotwell should choose a specific option,” he wrote.

Russian reaction. At the same time, Russian Telegram channels appeared to light up with glee over the news. Ukraine has adapted its drones over the course of the war to do everything from targeting artillery strikes to conducting long-range kamikaze attacks against Russian lines, and commentators saw Musk’s latest move as a blow to the war effort.

“If we gauge how important any given technology is to the Ukrainians based on how it’s discussed across the Russian Telegram ecosystem, then I would say it was rather important,” said Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the CNA think tank.

France’s ambassador to the United States, Philippe Étienne, will be joining Columbia University as a visiting professor after departing his post later this year.

Scholar Benjamin Gedan has been named the new director of the Latin American Program at the Wilson Center think tank.

Dylan White has been named NATO’s deputy spokesperson and head of press and media.

What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.

It’s the one that says, “bad AUMFs.” Congress just fired a shot across the bow at the Biden administration, letting them know that the battle over war powers isn’t over. A bipartisan gang of six members of Congress (two senators and four members of the House) launched a new push to repeal U.S. President Joe Biden’s wide-ranging war powers, which stem from Desert Storm and Iraq War-era Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs).

The bill would formally end the 1991 and 2002 authorizations and give Congress more say in the deployment of foreign forces and U.S. strikes. But it wouldn’t do anything to rein in Biden’s broad powers under the 2001 AUMF, the post-9/11 and broadest, most frequently invoked authorization.

Men of the cloth. Estonia’s foreign intelligence service is out with its annual international security assessment, and it’s well worth a read for any Russia watchers out there. Among its more interesting conclusions: Russian special service officers are using the Russian Orthodox Church as a cover for their intelligence affiliations. (The church also serves as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin’s foreign policy.)

But despite the Russian military’s failings in Ukraine thus far, Tallinn rates the Putin regime as unlikely to fall and to continue its path toward a total dictatorship.

Free bird. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has tasked his defense secretary, Ben Wallace, with determining whether London can give Ukraine fighter jets over the long term, a spokesperson for the prime minister said on Wednesday as Zelensky visited the country for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February. The U.K. is also planning to send Ukraine unspecified long-range weapons and begin training for Ukrainian pilots in the spring.

Residents retrieve an injured man from the rubble of a collapsed building following an earthquake in the town of Jindires, Syria, on Feb. 6. Hundreds of people have been reportedly killed in northern Syria after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that originated in Turkey and was felt across neighboring countries.RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images

Friday, Feb. 10: U.S. President Joe Biden is set to welcome Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the White House, just a month after a pro-Bolsonaro mob ransacked Brazil’s National Congress just days after Lula assumed office.

Tuesday, Feb. 14: The United States is set to host another Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting as NATO’s 30 defense ministers meet in Brussels.

“Zelensky’s speech in short: ‘I came to Britain to drink tea and take your planes, [and] as you know, I already drank tea.’”

– Ukrainian rapper Nitso Potvorno sums up the Ukrainian president’s speech to British Parliament on Wednesday with an ode to actor Roddy Piper. If you don’t know the reference, now you know. (Trivia: we believe this was our editor Keith’s favorite movie as a youth. Keith insists the claim is “fake news.”) 

Cunk’d. Ever wonder what it’s like to watch Jack and Robbie ask really stupid questions of really smart people all day? Now you can see for yourself (kind of). BBC’s outrageous mockumentary Cunk on Earth is finally on Netflix, which follows fictional host Philomena Cunk through the history of human civilization asking really absurd questions of humanity and history professors. (Think Ali G getting a doctorate at the University of Oxford.) Just don’t cite it in your thesis this semester, nerds. Bonus: University College London professor and past FP contributor Brian Klaas makes an appearance.