“For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday, as speed restrictions returned to the military version of SpaceX’s satellite network.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that systematic speed limits on Starshield had been reinstated across the entire front line and in Russian-occupied territories, disrupting military operations for several days, euronews.com reported. Following briefings from Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara and Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi, Zelenskyy wrote on X that terminals were capped at 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour).
“Unfortunately, there have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time,” Zelenskyy said, adding that the restrictions were helping Russia execute more accurate attacks and causing further Ukrainian casualties.
Received briefings from Minister of Defense of Ukraine Yevhenii Khmara and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi. Unfortunately, our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield’s operations over the territory of Ukraine for…
The renewed limits arrive less than three weeks after Ukraine announced connectivity restorations on October 24, when connections at speeds exceeding 400 kilometers per hour were confirmed following high-level contacts with Washington. The initial disruption occurred overnight on October 13 to 14, affecting logistics and drone operations as terminals lost connectivity at movement speeds of around 160 kilometers per hour.
Responsibility for the slowdowns remains disputed. While SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk stated on X that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government,” neither Washington nor the company has accepted blame for imposing them.
Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, adviser to the president of Ukraine on the development of technological areas of defense, noted that the American side would likely point to military tariff plan terms, stating, according to Ukrainian National News, that “we didn’t enjoy it for long.”
Europe has also warned Starlink over its grip on the battlefield. Andrius Kubilius, the European commissioner for defence and space, cautioned that the company risked losing the confidence of European governments if it failed to fulfill contractual obligations, London Business News reported.
Neither Trump nor Musk have given a full explanation as to why Starshield was slowed. And despite numerous requests, Ukraine hasn't received any answers from DoD, State, WH or SpaceX. “We don’t know the cause [because] they keep silent about this,” a senior Ukrainian official…
Despite heavy reliance on the US-controlled network, military commanders maintain that the front line would hold. Yevhen Lasiychuk, commander of the 7th Air Assault Corps, told The New Voice of Ukraine that a total shutdown would not cause a collapse.
“It won’t collapse. The effectiveness of deep strikes will drop, yes. Operations would get harder because both command posts and the assets carrying out direct strikes relied on Starlink,” Lasiychuk told Ukrainska Pravda on November 10.
