Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said today that Starshield has again been disabled on fast-moving drones in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces, and that the US has provided “very little” information about the return of the restriction.
“We have detected speed restrictions on Starshield on our Ukrainian territory again, in the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a speech at the 9th European Political Community Summit in Ireland. “The speed limit is back at 161 kilometers per hour—that’s 100 miles per hour.”
Zelenskyy’s allegation is that Starshield—the military variant of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service—stops working on Ukrainian military drones when they travel above 161 kilometers per hour.
SpaceX today denied Zelenskyy’s allegation. “This is false. There has been no change,” SpaceX’s media relations department told Ars today when asked if SpaceX has any response to Zelenskyy’s statement that Starshield is being restricted again.
SpaceX has received multiple Pentagon contracts to give Ukraine access to the military-focused Starshield. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said last month that any decisions on Starshield restrictions are made by the US government. The Pentagon inspector general’s office has since declined a request from US senators to investigate who ordered the restrictions.
Ukraine officials reportedly said today that they believe the limit was reinstated to put pressure on Ukraine in the latest round of peace talks with Russia. Zelenskyy said in today’s speech that without satellite connectivity on its drones, Ukraine cannot intercept Russian drones that fly in from the occupied parts of Ukraine.
