Ukraine accuses SpaceX of crippling military missions as ties with US worsen

For the latest on all of this, let's bring in France 24's Kyiv correspondent Gulliver Craig. Gulliver, let's start with those problems for Starlink. Just talk us through the significance of this for the Ukrainian forces. I think it's quite hard to overstate the significance of this for the Ukrainian forces. One commander I spoke to recently after the spat began between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky said if they cut Starlink, then the front will collapse. There are some military commanders who have a more optimistic take and think that Ukraine's got alternatives. But it's really since Ukraine got a deal with Elon Musk to be allowed to use Starlink for drone flights, in particular over occupied parts of Ukraine, allowing them to have small Starlinks on the drones that can keep them being piloted without being so vulnerable to jamming. It's when that started earlier this year that Ukraine's fortunes on the battlefield started to turn around. So these drones are used for mid-range strikes on Russian logistics in Russian occupied parts of Ukraine. They've made a huge contribution to slowing and stopping in many places the Russian advance in the east of the country. They're also used for providing air cover, if you like, to Ukrainian soldiers on the ground by having the interceptor drones being able to stop Russian drones that are trying to attack them, or at least some of them. And as Volodymyr Zelensky's security advisor and also Oleksandr Matvichuk, the Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize winner, have been underlining this morning, they're also really crucial in protecting civilians because Ukraine's interceptor drones use the Starlink terminals and they have so far proven the only beginnings of a hope that Ukraine could be able to stop the ultra-high-speed jet-powered drones that Russia has been using in recent weeks. If they can't use Starlink to stop them, we can expect to see more civilian victims from these high-speed drone attacks. And Gulliver, these strikes, of course, continue again to this day. What's the latest on that? There have been strikes in western Ukraine today. In the northwestern city of Lutsk, rarely attacked, a very long way from the eastern front. And I think there are five civilians at least killed there, a supermarket among the targets that was hit. Prior to that, as we've been talking about, strikes on energy infrastructure continued, including in Kiev, where several power stations were hit by ballistic missiles overnight. The Ukrainians say they didn't get a warning from their allies that these ballistic strikes were coming, raising suspicions that the Americans might have stopped intelligence sharing as well. Though neither the U.S. authorities nor Elon Musk's company have said that they've stopped this or they've made no official announcements about it. But they're in speculation, of course, in the last few days that the Americans might do something like this. But the idea was that if they did that, it would be in retaliation for Ukraine refusing to agree to Donald Trump's announced energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. The reality is that Ukraine never said they were happy about it, never said they thought it was fair, always said they thought the Russians should stop hitting their targets as well, hitting their power stations in Ukraine. Ukraine has actually stopped targeting oil refineries in Russia. Quietly, they've done it. And nevertheless, it appears that they are being punished, even as Russia says that the terms of the ceasefire aren't well defined. Donald Trump has been too vague about it. And that's why, for the time being, they're continuing to hit Ukraine's power stations harder than ever, in fact. Gulliver, thank you for that difference. 24 is Gulliver Crag in Kiev.