Ukraine says SpaceX’s Starshield faces speed restrictions

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was investigating what he described as fresh restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield service over the country, after similar speed limitations were imposed last month.

“Our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield’s operations over the territory of Ukraine for several days now – along the entire front line and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” he wrote on X early Thursday.

Starshield is SpaceX’s satellite network for government and national-security use, built on Starlink technology.

CNBC has reached out to SpaceX and the White House for comment.

“The Ukrainian military have already investigated the circumstances, and these are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” he said.

Zelenskyy said the restrictions imposed an effective speed limit on terminals of 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), disconnecting anything that was moving faster.

He added this made it harder for Ukraine to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.

“There have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time.”

The comments came as U.S.-brokered peace talks wrapped up in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow for further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Witkoff and Kushner were met by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev as they arrived at Vnukovo Airport on Thursday morning, according to Russian state news agency Tass. The pair were expected to discuss a lasting resolution to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has now raged for more than four-and-a-half years.

Later on Thursday, Witkoff and Kushner are poised to meet with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a political summit held in Ireland.

Trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates between Ukrainian, Russian and American negotiators ended earlier this week without a major diplomatic breakthrough on a ceasefire or territorial settlement.