President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was investigating what he described as new restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield service in the country, after similar speed limitations were temporarily imposed last month. “Our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield operations on the territory of Ukraine for several days, along the entire front line and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” he wrote in X early Thursday morning. Starshield is SpaceX’s satellite network for government and national security use, built on Starlink technology. CNBC has contacted SpaceX and the White House for comment. What to know about Starshield, SpaceX’s military-focused Starlink service “The Ukrainian military has already investigated the circumstances, and these are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” he said, adding that they are trying to establish the circumstances with the U.S. Zelenskyy said the restrictions imposed an effective speed limit on terminals moving at speeds above 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), disconnecting anything that moved faster and making it difficult for Ukraine intercept the Russian planes. drones. “There have already been attacks that were successful because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and cannot intercept in time.” On October 14, Ukrainian officials accused SpaceX of undermining the country’s ability to defend itself by reducing connectivity speeds and therefore disrupting military operations. On October 24, Zelenskyy confirmed that the systems had returned to their previous operational speeds. According to The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered those restrictions, rendering some Ukrainian interceptor and attack drones virtually unusable. The newspaper later reported that US President Donald Trump had asked Musk to reverse the measure. Trump has denied that the White House ordered restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine. Musk initially appeared to place responsibility for any restrictions on the US government, writing in X that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.” He later claimed that Ukraine had violated Starlink’s terms of service, leading the company to restrict its access to high-speed satellite technology, something Ukrainian officials have strongly disputed. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to Zelenskyy, said at the time that Ukraine cannot use commercial Starlink for medium- or long-range drone strikes because the service does not operate over Russian territory and had imposed drone speed limits of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour for months. On Thursday, Beskrestnov confirmed that “Starlink’s operating speed during the move was again limited.” “We did not rejoice for long,” he said, adding that “any term can be changed and discussed, rather than leaving our country without air protection.” Dmitriev when they arrived at Vnukovo airport on Thursday morning, according to Russian state news agency Tass. The two were expected to discuss a lasting resolution to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now more than four and a half years old. Later on Thursday, Witkoff and Kushner will meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a political summit in Ireland. Trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates between Ukrainian, Russian and American negotiators ended earlier this week without a major diplomatic breakthrough on a ceasefire or territorial agreement.
