President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukraine’s military satellite communications service has been disrupted again, in a setback for Kyiv’s defences against Russian drone attacks.
In a post on Telegram, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian units had recorded significant disruptions to Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink service, for several days, affecting the entire front line and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.
He said systemic restrictions were limiting the speed at which Starshield terminals could be used to 161 kilometres per hour (100 mph). As a result, Ukrainian interceptor drones could not reach sufficient speed to shoot down Russian jet-powered drones, and some strikes had already got through.
“This helps Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes on Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said. He added that Kyiv was trying to establish the reasons for the restriction with the American side.
The cause of the disruption is disputed and unverified. SpaceX said on Thursday that there had been no change to its service, while several Ukrainian frontline units confirmed they could not achieve drone speeds beyond 100 mph. The European Commission described the reports as distressing and said that, if confirmed, the restrictions would be unacceptable.
It is the second time in a month that Ukraine has reported such limits. In mid-October, Ukrainian officials said SpaceX had abruptly capped the speed of Starlink and Starshield, cutting off drones and other equipment moving faster than about 160 kph, amid tensions with the Trump administration over Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries. Service was restored on 24 October.
The new disruptions come a day after the end of two days of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, brokered by the United States, the first such meeting since February. A Ukrainian official said there was no mention of the Starshield disruptions during the talks, and it was unclear who had made the decision to impose the limits.
Ukraine relies heavily on Starshield to operate its drone fleet, which has become central to its defence. Interceptor drones use the service to chase down Russian jet-powered Shahed drones, which can fly at up to 500 kph. The speed limit effectively disables some of Ukraine’s air defences against those weapons and risks paralysing its campaign of drone strikes against Russian supply lines in occupied territory.
The disruption also lands as American diplomacy enters a new phase. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks with President Vladimir Putin about the results of the Abu Dhabi meetings, and were due to brief Zelenskiy in Dublin afterwards.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/zelenskiy-says-starshield-speed-limited-again-hampering-ukraines-defences-2026-11-12/ ; The Wall Street Journal — https://www.wsj.com/world/ukraine-says-its-military-starlink-is-disrupted-again-hurting-defenses-bfb00a64
