Starshield curbs still hindering drone defence, Zelensky says

Detailed summary

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday (all times local) that speed restrictions remained in place on the US Starshield satellite communications system, hampering the…

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday (all times local) that speed restrictions remained in place on the US Starshield satellite communications system, hampering the Ukrainian military's ability to operate inside the country.

Zelensky said the continued restrictions made it hard to intercept jet-powered and other drones and sent a bad signal to Russia on dealing with land seized by Russian forces in the four-and-a-half-year war.

"Unfortunately, the speed restrictions remain in place along the entire front line and in temporarily-occupied territories of Ukraine," he said in his nightly video address.

"I expect the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Ministry, together with all relevant structures in the United States, will work through this issue."

In mid-October, Ukrainian officials said Elon Musk's SpaceX had abruptly capped the speed of Starlink and its Starshield military version, cutting off drones and other equipment moving faster than about 160km/h amid tensions with the Trump administration over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Service was restored on 24 October, and neither Musk nor the US government, which operates Starshield using Starlink technology, took responsibility for imposing the curbs.

On Thursday, Zelensky said Ukrainian military units had again recorded disruptions to Starshield over several days.

In his latest comments, Zelensky repeated that the restrictions "limit our ability to intercept jet-powered Shaheds (Iranian-designed drones) and counter other drones".

"They also send Russia a signal that America may somehow treat our temporarily-occupied land differently," he said. "We expect the speed to be restored."

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