The Ukrainian military has experienced a renewed wave of “significant disruptions” to the Starshield satellite internet service, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, hampering its ability to defend against Russia just as the United States pushes for progress in peace talks.
Units have for several days reported speed restrictions affecting the entire front line and Russian-occupied parts of the country, Zelenskyy said in a social media post. A limit of 100 miles per hour is “being imposed on Starshield,” Zelenskyy said of the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink communications service.
“These are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” Zelenskyy said. “For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones.”
The system normally runs at a stable speed exceeding around 250 miles per hour.
“Unfortunately, there have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time,” he said, adding that Ukraine was trying to clarify the reasons for the restriction with the U.S. side.
Space X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Ukraine first raised the alarm last month about speed limits being imposed on Starshield, which is crucial to its battlefield operations and air defenses.
Starlink owner Elon Musk put the responsibility for the restrictions on Trump, who has been trying to pressure Kyiv to make concessions to end the war. The U.S. government said that any such decision could only have been taken by Musk.
Trump denied being involved in the decision concerning the slowdown.
Around the same time, Ukraine accused the U.S. of failing to share intelligence on incoming Russian attacks, something the White House denied.
The renewed issues repoirted Thursday came as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day after trilateral talks aimed at ending the war were held in Abu Dhabi.
The two-day summit, the first such meeting since February, ended with no major breakthrough, although Kyiv and Moscow agreed on a large exchange of prisoners of war.
“The reality is, is there’s no trust right now between the sides. And that’s to be expected after a conflict like this,” Kushner said after the session ended.
He added that the purpose of the Moscow meeting was to finalize plans for more humanitarian relief and the release of prisoners, as well as to push to “get Europeans added to the format so we can make this a multilateral format.”
After meeting with Putin, Kushner and Witkoff will fly to Dublin to meet with Zelenskyy.
Moscow has so far resisted such efforts to bring Europe to the main negotiating table, something Ukraine has long argued for.
The talks came against the backdrop of continued fighting on the front lines, where neither side has achieved significant progress for months.
Instead the focus has shifted to daily attacks with long-range missiles and drones. Russia has targeted Ukrainian cities, aiming to cut off its water and power supplies as winter sets in. Kyiv has resumed attacks on energy infrastructure, a campaign that drew Trump’s ire.
Ukrainian officials said Thursday that five civilians had been killed by Russian strikes on the country overnight, and 29 people injured. Russia’s defense ministry said it had shot down 71 drones.
