Ukraine says the Starshield speed limit is back and Russian 'strikes have already gone through'
· Business Insider
Emil Helms / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images
- Ukraine says it's being hit with a slowdown in its military version of Starlink — again.
- Zelenskyy said his staff are asking the US what happened, but so far "know very little."
- SpaceX denied that the service has been affected over Ukraine.
Ukraine's Starlink problems are back, it said on Thursday.
Visit newsbetsport.bond for more information.
Troops and officials said their access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, has been curbed once again to a 100-mph speed limit, severely disrupting war operations such as air defense and strikes in Russia's rear.
It's the second time that Kyiv has reported a major disruption to the service, coming about three weeks after Ukraine said it suffered a 10-day slowdown under a similar speed limit.
"The speed limit is back at 161 kilometers per hour. That's 100 miles per hour," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a summit in Dublin.
He added that Ukraine's interceptor drones, which it relies on to counter jet-powered loitering munitions near the front lines, couldn't maintain a connection while flying at speeds fast enough to catch their targets.
"This means more Russian strikes get through, and more of our people are killed by Russia. We are trying to get the details from the American side, but so far, we know very little," Zelenskyy said.
We have detected speed restrictions on Starshield on our Ukrainian territory – in the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine. The speed limit is back at 161 kilometers per hour – that’s 100 miles per hour. This directly affects our ability to intercept Russian jet-powered “shahed” drones. These drones come from those areas, and because of the speed restrictions, we simply cannot catch up with them in time. Near the frontline, we cannot use our aircraft. Only drone interceptors can operate there. And without the speed we need, shooting down these “shaheds” becomes much harder. This means more Russian strikes get through, and more of our people are killed by Russia. We are trying to get the details from the American side, but so far, we know very little. If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going. We need to be clear and never recognize Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory in any way. From an address at the 9th European Political Community Summit. (3/3)
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 12, 2026
A spokesperson for SpaceX denied the disruption in comments to several international media outlets, saying: "This is false. There has been no change."
SpaceX and the Pentagon did not respond to comment requests sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an advisor to Zelenskyy's office on drones, wrote on his Telegram channel that communications had also been disrupted for helicopters tasked with chasing and shooting down Russian jet drones — another key pillar of its air defense.
Ukraine uses hundreds of cheap interceptor drones as a cost-effective way to fight Russian Shaheds, though it also has newer designs built to counter the Kremlin's jet-powered systems.Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
"We did not rejoice for long," he said of the initial resumption of Starshield services, which happened in mid-October.
Zelenskyy said in a separate post on his Telegram channel that Ukrainian forces had been "reporting significant failures" with Starshield for several days, particularly near the front lines or in Russian-occupied territories.
"Unfortunately, strikes have already gotten through because interception systems cannot reach sufficient speed in time to catch them," he said.
"The Ukrainian military has already checked the circumstances of this, and these are not random errors, but a system speed limit," Zelenskyy added.
The Financial Times reported that several unnamed senior Ukrainian officials suspected the speed limit was related to the US putting pressure on Kyiv amid this week's peace talks in Abu Dhabi, and as US envoys flew to Russia to meet with its leader, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday.
Why Starshield matters for the war
Ukrainian troops and civilians alike rely heavily on Starlink for communications, but Kyiv's forces say they equip their medium-range strike drones and interceptors with terminals that link to Starshield, which is controlled by the US government.
Most commercial Starlink terminals officially stop working at a maximum speed of 100 mph, meaning Ukrainian drones flying faster typically need Starshield to stay connected.
When Ukraine's Starshield access was previously disrupted, it said it had tested connections outside its territory and found that the speed limit was only imposed within its borders.
Zelenskyy had publicly called on SpaceX owner Elon Musk and President Donald Trump for answers about the slowdown, but both have said they were not responsible.
Musk, however, had accused Ukraine of breaching Starlink's terms of service by using the service in attack drones. Ukrainian military figures, including Beskrestnov, have denied the claim.
Read the original article on Business Insider