President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday that Ukraine is investigating new restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield service. He described the limitations as fresh disruptions affecting the country's military operations, following similar speed caps that were temporarily imposed last month. The President stated that these issues have been recorded by Ukrainian units for several days, impacting operations along the entire front line as well as in temporarily occupied territories.
Starshield is a satellite network developed by SpaceX specifically for government and national security applications. It is built upon the same infrastructure as the commercial Starlink service. Ukrainian military officials have concluded that the current disruptions are not random technical errors but rather systematic speed restrictions. The country is working to establish the specific circumstances with the United States to resolve the issue.
The restrictions reportedly impose an effective speed limit on terminals moving faster than 161 kilometers per hour, which is equivalent to 100 miles per hour. Any equipment moving at a higher velocity is disconnected from the network. Zelenskyy explained that this makes it significantly harder for Ukraine to intercept Russian jet-powered drones. He noted that some strikes have already penetrated defenses because interception systems could not reach sufficient speeds to engage the targets in time.
This development follows a previous incident on October 14 when Ukrainian officials accused SpaceX of undermining defense capabilities by cutting connectivity speeds. By October 24, Zelenskyy confirmed that systems had returned to their previous operating speeds. According to The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered those earlier restrictions, which rendered some Ukrainian strike and interceptor drones virtually unusable. The newspaper later reported that President Donald Trump asked Musk to reverse the move, although Trump has denied that the White House ordered the Starlink restrictions in Ukraine.
Musk initially suggested that the U.S. government was responsible for any restrictions, writing on X that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. He later claimed that Ukraine had violated Starlink's terms of service, which prompted the company to restrict access to high-speed satellite technology. Ukrainian officials have strongly contested this explanation. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense tech advisor to Zelenskyy, noted that Ukraine cannot use commercial Starlink for medium or long-range drone strikes because the service does not operate over Russian territory and has imposed drone speed limits of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour for months.
On Thursday, Beskrestnov confirmed that the speed of Starlink operation during movement was again limited. He remarked that the country did not rejoice for long after the previous restrictions were lifted. He added that any terms can be changed and discussed, but this should happen instead of leaving the country without sky protection.
These comments come as U.S.-brokered peace talks wrapped up in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The envoys were met by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev upon their arrival at Vnukovo Airport on Thursday morning, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
The pair are expected to discuss a lasting resolution to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that has now raged for more than four and a half years. Later on Thursday, Witkoff and Kushner are poised to meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a political summit held 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 settlement. CNBC has reached out to SpaceX and the White House for comment on the latest developments regarding the satellite service.
