Elon Musk reportedly ordered Starlink to cut Internet coverage in parts of Ukraine during a counteroffensive in the earlier stages of the Russian invasion.

A Reuters report earlier this week, which cited three sources, said Musk ordered a senior SpaceX engineer to cut coverage in areas including Kherson, a strategic region north of the Black Sea that Ukraine was pushing to reclaim back in 2022.

The decision disrupted Ukraine's counteroffensive efforts and has strained the country's trust in Starlink.

“We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving the order, one of the sources told Reuters. Details around how long the outage lasted were not clear.

It's claimed that at least a hundred Starlink terminals were deactivated, while the decision also impacted other areas seized by Russia, including some of Donetsk province further east.

It led to a communications blackout for Ukrainian troops, according to a Ukrainian military official, while drones surveilling Russian forces went dark, as long-range artillery units, reliant on Starlink to aim their fire, struggled to hit targets.

The report this week comes months after Musk denied reports in March that US negotiators threatened to cut off Ukraine's access to Starlink.

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals," he said.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Starlink terminals were given to Ukraine, some of which were paid for by the US government and other governments.

As of April, more than 50,000 terminals had been sent to Ukraine.

SpaceX has called the Reuters report "inaccurate." DCD has contacted SpaceX for further comment. The Ukrainian government declined to comment on the reports.

Starlink has become a crucial tool for Ukraine during its ongoing war with Russia. The terminals have provided their troops with crucial connectivity on the frontline.

The SpaceX subsidiary has around 8,000 satellites in orbit.

Although Starlink is important to the Ukrainian war effort, Musk has reportedly restricted access to the satellite service multiple times during the war, The New York Times reported back in 2023.

Starlink uses geofencing to restrict where the service is available on the front lines. At one point, Musk denied the Ukrainian military’s request to turn on Starlink near Crimea, the Russian-controlled territory, affecting battlefield strategy. Musk has previously said that Starlink can’t be used for long-range drone attacks.