Fire Was an Attack on Starlink and Ukraine, Lithuania Says

A weekend fire at a site that hosts Starlink gear wasn't an accident, Lithuanian officials say—it was an attempted takedown of the satellite internet network that underpins NATO communications and Ukraine's war effort. Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said attackers hit a data center around 2am Sunday with "flammable liquids and Molotov cocktails," igniting a control unit, the New York Times reports. A security guard quickly put out the blaze; antennas were untouched, and service stayed online. An official said authorities are looking for suspects, per Reuters.

Starlink infrastructure has been similarly attacked in Bulgaria and Poland, where a Starlink station serving both Poland and Ukraine was damaged in September, per the Times. European officials increasingly see the attacks as part of a wider campaign—possibly by Russia—against NATO-aligned infrastructure, even as Ukraine reports new limits on its access to Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink. "Ukraine is the target," a Lithuanian official said.