President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was investigating what he called new restrictions on SpaceX’s StarShield services over the country’s skies, after similar speed limits were temporarily imposed last month.
“In recent days, our forces have recorded significant disruptions to Starshield operations over Ukrainian territory, along the entire front and in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” he wrote in X earlier Thursday.
star shield is space x A government and national security satellite network built on Starlink technology.
CNBC has reached out to SpaceX and the White House for comment.
“The Ukrainian military is already investigating the situation, and these are not random mistakes, but systematic speed restrictions,” he said, adding that he was trying to clarify the situation with the United States.
Zelenskiy said the limit would impose a de facto speed limit on devices traveling faster than 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), cutting off anything moving faster and making it difficult for Ukraine to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.
“There have already been cases where attacks have been successful because our country’s interception systems were not fast enough to intercept them in time.”
On October 14, Ukrainian authorities accused SpaceX of undermining the country’s ability to defend the country by slowing connection speeds and thereby disrupting military operations. On October 24, President Zelenskiy confirmed that the system had returned to its previous operating speed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered these restrictions, effectively rendering some of Ukraine’s attack and interceptor drones unusable. The paper later reported that US President Donald Trump had asked Musk to reverse the move. President Trump denied that the White House had ordered restrictions on Starlink in Ukraine.
Musk initially appeared to shift the blame for any restrictions on the U.S. government, writing to X that “the StarShield system is owned and controlled by the U.S. government.” He later claimed that Starlink had been restricted from accessing high-speed satellite technology because Ukraine had violated Starlink’s terms of service, a claim strongly disputed by Ukrainian authorities.
At the time, Zelensky’s defense technical adviser Serhiy Beskhrestnov said Ukraine could not use commercial Starlink for medium- to long-range drone attacks. Starlink does not operate on Russian territory, and the speed limit for drones has been set at 70 to 90 kilometers per hour for several months.
On Thursday, Beskhrestnov confirmed that “the speed of operation of Starlink in transit has once again been limited.”
“We were not happy for long,” he said, adding: “Instead of leaving our country without defending our skies, we can change and discuss any conditions.”
peace negotiations
The comments came as U.S.-brokered peace talks concluded in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Witkov and Kushner arrived at Vnukovo airport on Thursday morning and were greeted by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported. The two men were expected to discuss a durable solution to Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, which has now raged for more than four-and-a-half years.
Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner are scheduled to meet with Mr. Zelenskiy later Thursday on the sidelines of a political summit in Ireland.
Trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates between negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States ended earlier this week without significant diplomatic progress on a ceasefire or territorial settlement.
