A third attempted arson attack on a Starlink-related facility has been reported in Europe, amid concerns the Russian government has been allegedly orchestrating the sabotage efforts.
On Sunday, Lithuania’s Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius reported that someone had attempted “to set fire to a Lithuanian company that stores Starlink communication equipment.” “The authorities warned this company of possible attacks, security has been strengthened, the attempt failed,” he wrote on Facebook.
Lithuania’s Prime Minister further told the local LRT Radio: “At around 02:00, there was an attempt to burn satellite antennas and a control unit. Incendiary liquids were found, along with containers ranging in capacity from three to 10 litres.”
Although the investigation is proceeding, Lithuanian authorities already suspect the arson attempt is linked to two other incidents against Starlink related facilities in Europe, one in Poland, the other in Bulgaria. Lithuania’s Prime Minister is also casting blame on the Kremlin.
“They are part of Russian attempts to disrupt Starlink and influence the success of Ukrainian operations,” Sinkevičius told reporters, according to Reuters.
Law enforcement in Europe were able to nab two Turkish nationals allegedly behind the arson attack against the Starlink ground station in Poland. “Increasingly, Russian intelligence agencies are reaching out to individuals connected to the criminal world,” Polish Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said last week. An arrest warrant has also been reportedly issued against two German suspects behind the arson attack in Bulgaria for burning at least eight Starlink “gateway” antennas at another ground station in the country.
The acts of sabotage risk disrupting access to Starlink, which relies on the gateway ground stations to beam broadband data to orbiting satellites that then relay the internet to users on the ground. Starlink has become especially crucial in Ukraine, which has depended on the satellite internet system for military communications and to help launch drones against invading Russia.
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(Starlink)
Last week, controversy emerged when Ukraine reported that the military grade version of Starlink, called Starshield, had suddenly started to enforce a speed restriction, preventing Ukrainian drones from using the satellite internet system. Both SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk and President Trump have denied imposing the restriction. But Reuters reports that the order came from inside the White House, writing that “leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed.”
The speed restriction also continues to remain in place, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Unfortunately, we have established that the equipment stops functioning at speeds of 130 to 161 kilometers per hour in various sectors of the front. This is slowing down our frontline logistics and limiting the use of various types of drones, particularly mid-strike drones and interceptors of jet-powered ‘shaheds,’ he tweeted on Monday, referring to Iranian-supplied attack drones to Russia.
About Our Expert
Michael Kan
Principal Reporter
Experience
I’ve been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I’m currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country’s technology sector.
Since 2020, I’ve covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I’ve combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink’s cellular service.
I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I’m now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I’m always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.
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