Zelensky condemns 'brutal' Russian strikes as he calls on Elon Musk's SpaceX to lift interceptor drone restrictions

Detailed summary

Vladimir Putin rained down 'more than 2,300 attack drones, 1,590 aerial bombs, and 15 missiles of various types' in recent days.

Published: 11:43 GMT, 15 November 2026 | Updated: 11:58 GMT, 15 November 2026

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned Russia's latest 'brutal' strikes in an emotional plea for SpaceX to lift the restrictions under which Kyiv's hardware could remain connected to Elon Musk's satellite network.

Vladimir Putin rained down 'more than 2,300 attack drones, 1,590 aerial bombs, and 15 missiles of various types' in recent days, with the Ukrainian military unable to defend themselves due to alleged imposed speed limits on Starshield.

Only last night, Ukrainian firefighters rushed to apartment buildings targeted by Russian guided aerial bomb strikes on Zaporizhzhia, which saw a two-year-old injured, as well as four other people.

Energy infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia and the Sumy, Odesa, Zhytomyr, and Kirovohrad regions have also been targeted, as well as railway infrastructure in the Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Strikes also hit the Donetsk and Kyiv regions, with a total of 16 people injured.

However, Zelensky explained in a post on X that these strikes have been able to get past their defence systems due to 'restrictions on the operating speed of Starshield terminals along the front line' which their infrastructure relies on.

'Our interceptor drones lose connection with their operators at a speed of 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) and simply cannot catch up with Russian jet-powered "shaheds",' the Ukrainian leader wrote. A 'shahed' is an unmanned 'kamikaze drone' manufactured in Iran.

'We are counting on these restrictions being lifted. The protection of lives and Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of winter directly depends on this,' he added.

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