Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the United States and Elon Musk to lift Starshield restrictions on Ukraine’s satellite terminals, warning that the limits are weakening the country’s air defences as Russia steps up strikes on energy infrastructure ahead of winter.
In a statement on Sunday, Zelensky said Ukrainian interceptor drones keep losing contact with their operators once they fly faster than 161 kilometres per hour (100 mph) along the front line and over Russian-occupied territory, leaving them unable to catch up with Russian jet-powered Shahed drones.
FAKTA
- The limit: Starshield terminals in Ukraine are capped at 161 km/h (100 mph) along the front line and in occupied territory, according to President Zelensky.
- The effect: Interceptor drones lose their connection with operators above that speed and cannot catch jet-powered Shahed drones, which Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence says can reach 300–400 km/h.
- The history: Ukrainian officials say SpaceX introduced the speed limit on 14 October. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said terminals were working at higher speeds again on 24 October, but Zelensky said on Thursday the restrictions had returned.
- The scale of attacks: Russia launched more than 2,300 drones, 1,590 guided aerial bombs and 15 missiles of various types against Ukraine over the past week, Zelensky said.
Zelensky Says Starshield Restrictions Leave Energy Sites Exposed
“The Russians are targeting substations with Shaheds. And many of these strikes get through precisely because the restrictions on the speed of Starshield terminals along the front line and in the temporarily occupied territories remain,” Zelensky said.
“We are counting on these restrictions to be lifted,” he wrote on social media. “The protection of lives and Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter depends on this. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the President’s Office have been instructed to work closely with the American side and SpaceX. It is important to be on the right side of history. We need to help Ukraine.”
Starshield is the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system, and it carries communications for Ukrainian units hunting Russian drones. Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid in the run-up to winter, and Zelensky warned that the restrictions could weaken defences around energy sites in the months ahead.
A Dispute Over Who Imposed the Limits
Zelensky questioned on Saturday whether the problem was technical, saying the restrictions appeared to have been imposed by SpaceX despite earlier assurances from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Starshield was more under US government control.
SpaceX has not publicly commented on Zelensky’s latest remarks. The company told US news outlet Axios on Thursday that claims of renewed speed restrictions were “false” and that “there has been no change.” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in October that the Pentagon had not issued any orders to restrict Starshield.
Strikes Continue as Winter Approaches
A Russian strike on the port city of Chornomorsk, in Ukraine’s Odesa region, injured six people on Sunday and damaged energy infrastructure, regional head Oleh Kiper said, temporarily leaving about 41,000 customers without power. Overnight Russian strikes on the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia injured another six people, including a two-year-old boy, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Ukrainian forces also struck back, hitting a petrochemical plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region. Ukraine struck the Tatarstan petrochemical plant in an attack that damaged its industrial zone, according to local officials. The fighting comes as US-brokered peace talks continue, with Zelensky saying US negotiators have floated NATO membership in exchange for a Ukrainian withdrawal from Donbas — an idea Kyiv has not accepted.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and presidential office have been instructed to press the issue with the American side and SpaceX, and that he expects the restrictions to be lifted.
