Zelenskyy says Starshield has been slowed again, endangering Ukraine's defense
It comes three weeks after Ukraine’s speeds were restored following the last throttling incident.
As media headlines focus on Jensen Huang's resignation and the midterms fallout, you could almost forget that Ukraine is still fighting for its life — with all of Europe nervously watching. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his job just got harder again. The country's access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, has been hit with "systematic speed restrictions" for several days. And it just so happens to be while Trump's envoys are in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy posted on X that the speed limits are being imposed along the war's entire front line and in Russian-occupied territory. He said any terminal moving faster than 161 km/h (100 mph) loses its connection to the satellite network. Following briefings from his defense minister and top commander, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's military had investigated and ruled out random errors.
"Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. "We are trying to establish all the circumstances with the American side."
A troubling pattern and odd timing
Ukraine's interceptor drones rely on Starshield to chase down Russia's jet-powered Shahed drones, which can fly up to 500 km/h (310 mph). Trying to catch them at 100 mph won't cut it. Zelenskyy says some strikes have already gotten through because Ukraine's interceptors couldn't go fast enough.
The timing is... curious. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow today for talks with Putin. They're expected to meet Zelenskyy later at a summit in Ireland.
This isn't the first time Ukraine's Starshield access has been throttled. On October 14, Ukraine's military found that its speeds were being limited to around the same threshold. It happened as President Trump was publicly complaining about Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries, which he blamed for high fuel prices in the US ahead of the midterms. Analysts agree that Trump's war with Iran has been the biggest factor in sky-high oil and diesel prices.
It still isn't clear who made the call to throttle Starshield the first time. Reuters, citing US officials, reported that the order came from inside the White House. But days later, the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk personally ordered the slowdown, possibly after talking with Trump. Trump denied any role, for whatever that's worth.
Musk's responses were all over the place. First, he said Starshield is "owned and controlled by the US government," then later claimed Ukraine had violated Starlink's terms of service. That's a strange thing to say about something you just said you don't own or control. Regardless, speeds were restored on October 24, reportedly after Trump called Musk and asked him to lift the caps amid bipartisan pressure from lawmakers.
Three weeks later, we're back where we started, with (so far) no one claiming responsibility.