USAID Faulted for Oversight Gaps on Ukraine’s Starlink Terminals

The US Agency for International Development failed to monitor whether Ukraine misused thousands of Starlink terminals the agency delivered to the country after Russia’s invasion in 2022, according to an inspector general’s report obtained by Bloomberg News.

A draft transfer agreement prohibited “military use” of the terminals, the report notes. They were delivered for use in hospitals, schools, communications and other civilian purposes. But shortly after the war began, allegations surfaced that Ukraine’s military had weaponized the Starlink terminals and used them to pilot drones and target artillery strikes against Russian military equipment, vehicles and mobile command centers. ...