Zelensky: Starshield Speed Caps Are Blunting Ukraine's Drone Intercepts

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he received reports from Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapaty that SpaceX's Starshield satellite communications system has been disrupted over Ukrainian territory for several days. In a Telegram post, Zelensky said the system is operating under speed limits set at 161 kilometers per hour, or 100 miles per hour.

Zelensky was blunt about what the military found. The Ukrainian armed forces checked the circumstances and concluded these are not random errors, but a deliberate system speed limit, he said. For Ukraine, the president said, the cap primarily complicates the interception of Russian jet drones — and hits have already landed because the interceptors cannot build enough speed to reach their targets in time.

It is not the first time SpaceX's satellite network has been tied up in Ukraine's battlefield needs. CEO Elon Musk previously restricted Starlink in Ukraine, arguing it could not be used for attacks, before ultimately removing those limitations.

Starshield is the SpaceX satellite system named in the Ukrainian reports, distinct from the consumer-facing Starlink network that has been central to Ukrainian communications through the war.