The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) failed to fully mitigate the risks of misuse involving more than 5,100 Starlink terminals provided to Ukraine, according to a report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. The watchdog has recommended suspending service for terminals located in high-risk areas.
The terminals — 1,508 purchased by USAID through its contractor DAI and 3,667 donated by SpaceX — were delivered between March 2022 and July 2024. Inspectors found that while early drafts of the supply agreement with Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications (SSSCIP) included clauses prohibiting military use and requiring safeguards against misuse, the final version signed in April 2022 omitted these provisions. It also lacked restrictions on using Starlink in occupied Donbas, a condition present in SpaceX’s own service terms.
USAID also did not track the terminals after delivery, citing “the high-risk, complex conditions of wartime,” and instead delegated responsibility to Ukrainian authorities. As a result, the agency had no precise knowledge of where the devices were or who was operating them.
The report states that nearly half of all active Starlink units provided to Ukraine are in areas fully or partially controlled by Russian forces, raising concerns they could be used for military or intelligence purposes, or captured outright.
Inspectors recommended that USAID’s Ukraine office work with SSSCIP to identify high-risk terminals and coordinate with SpaceX to suspend their service. USAID partially agreed with the recommendation.
Starlink has been a critical communications tool for Ukrainian forces since the early days of the war, supporting battlefield communications, drone and unmanned vessel navigation, and other operations. However, SpaceX — and CEO Elon Musk personally — have at times restricted Starlink coverage in conflict zones.
In the autumn of 2022, CNN reported that Ukrainian forces experienced connectivity issues after SpaceX requested the Pentagon to help fund the service. Musk later said Starlink would remain operational in Ukraine for free, “even though we’re still losing money.”
At times, SpaceX limited Starlink’s availability to avoid “escalating the conflict.” For example, Musk did not enable coverage over Crimea in 2022, explaining that doing so would violate U.S. sanctions. Reuters later reported that Musk also ordered restrictions in Kherson and other combat zones in late 2022, which disrupted a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov has stated that Kyiv has alternatives to Starlink. French satellite operator Eutelsat, owner of OneWeb, has also expressed readiness to replace some of the service if necessary.
