Ukrainian military operations were disrupted again this week along the front lines because of restrictions on Starshield, the satellite internet system developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and controlled by the U.S. government, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.
Mr. Zelensky told reporters that speed limits of about 100 miles per hour were being enforced for Ukrainian devices connected to the system. It would be the second time in recent weeks that Ukraine’s Starshield connectivity had been throttled. The previous restrictions caused Ukrainian drones to lose their connection to the system if they flew above certain speeds.
Mr. Zelensky said that the latest speed limits took effect on Monday and were being enforced over Russian-occupied territories, not over all of Ukraine. That hurts Ukraine’s ability to strike Russian troops with drones in those territories.
Imposing restrictions on occupied territories is “very dangerous, because it already has political implications,” Mr. Zelensky said. “If you impose restrictions there, you are already partially recognizing the temporarily occupied territories as not ours,” he added.
Mr. Zelensky said separately in his nightly speech that the Starshield limits hurt Ukraine’s ability to use newly developed interceptors to protect its cities from Russia’s jet-powered drones. It is likely, however, that those limits would not affect interceptors in Kyiv, the capital, which is being battered by jet-powered drones but is far from the front lines.
Mr. Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment on Friday evening. SpaceX had earlier told Axios that the Ukrainian claim about throttled connectivity was false.
Limits on Starshield were first imposed in all of Ukraine for about 10 days in October as President Trump and his administration were pressuring its leaders to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, hoping to lower diesel prices before the U.S. midterm elections.
At the time, Ukrainian officials expressed fears that the limits were meant to force Kyiv to capitulate to Moscow. The changes, which caused drones to fall from the skies on the front line, still have not been fully explained.
Starshield is the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink, which is also used by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine uses Starlink for communication, while it uses Starshield for certain kinds of air defense and to guide drones in Russian-occupied territory.
Last month, SpaceX said in a letter to Congress about the previous disruptions that no changes had been made to Starshield because it was under the control of the U.S. government. But changes were made to Starlink, the company said, because Ukraine had violated the system’s terms of service by using it for “offensive military aviation missions.”
On Friday, Mr. Zelensky did not mention any renewed limits on Starlink, and Ukrainian officials this week only referred to restrictions on Starshield.
Serhiy Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian military expert who advises Mr. Zelensky on weapons technologies, wrote on social media on Thursday that “the operating speed of Starshield while in motion has been restricted again.”
“Our relief didn’t last long,” he added.
Mr. Beskrestnov said the Ukrainian military was once again having communication problems with its helicopters that pursue drones targeting cities, and with the jet-powered interceptors used to shoot down Russia’s jet-powered drones.
The Ukrainian claims of another Starshield slowdown came shortly after the latest round of trilateral peace talks between officials from the United States, Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It was the first time since February that Russian and Ukrainian representatives had met in person.
Mr. Zelensky also told reporters on Friday that Ukraine planned to ask Congress for more U.S. weapons and for additional sanctions against Russia.
He said that “if Ukraine can move in this direction, and the U.S. Congress can consider supporting such an idea, then by the end of the year the parties really have an opportunity to try to reach an agreement on at least some de-escalation.”
Such a package would likely have to wait until the newly elected Congress, which will be fully controlled by Democrats, takes office in January. Republicans in Congress have largely bowed to Mr. Trump’s desire to lower military support for Ukraine.
Andrew E. Kramer, Oleksandra Mykolyshyn, Dzvinka Pinchuk and Ryan Mac contributed reporting.
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