The issue was that this "front line" was specifically the line between Crimea and the rest of Ukraine, and SpaceX said that they had made Starlink available in Ukraine. This is a massive political/diplomatic faux pas; as far as the USA is concerned Crimea is a part of Ukraine.
The other issue is that Musk/SpaceX were very iffy about letting their terminals that were sold as civilian goods to be used for directly controlling weapons. The drone boats that have sank a bunch of Russian ships (got one again yesterday, a Ropucha-class) are controlled with Starlink receivers, anything else could be jammed. I think Musk actually has a point there, as civilians/private companies should not get involved in wars that way. The DoD agreed, and now instead purchases completely non-region-locked terminals directly from SpaceX, and gives those to Ukraine, so that the capability comes from the USA and not a private company.
The other issue is that Musk/SpaceX were very iffy about letting their terminals that were sold as civilian goods to be used for directly controlling weapons. The drone boats that have sank a bunch of Russian ships (got one again yesterday, a Ropucha-class) are controlled with Starlink receivers, anything else could be jammed. I think Musk actually has a point there, as civilians/private companies should not get involved in wars that way. The DoD agreed, and now instead purchases completely non-region-locked terminals directly from SpaceX, and gives those to Ukraine, so that the capability comes from the USA and not a private company.