Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said Starshield systems are still being restricted for use in his country’s war against Russia, warning the breakdown is a “planned operation” to target Kyiv.
Starshield is SpaceX‘s military version of Starlink that the company says is owned and operated by the U.S. government. Ukraine has been using Starshield to boost its drone strike missions and air defenses against Russia, but announced on Wednesday that the system is being newly restricted, four days after Trump called for new leadership in Kyiv, contending that Zelensky is unable to agree to a peace deal ending the war.
Zelensky has expressed intense concern that throttling Starshield is hindering Kyiv’s fight against Russia. He said on Saturday that Ukraine tested and confirmed that Starshield “worked perfectly” in adjacent European Union countries. The Ukrainian president suggested that the speed limit is a deliberate choice despite U.S. officials and SpaceX telling the Ukrainian government at several levels that the problem is “technical issues.”
“We have the relevant logs and evidence to prove this,” Zelensky said. “The conclusion is clear: the restrictions are in effect within Ukraine but do not apply within the European Union. In other words, this is a planned operation.”
Both the United States and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have denied they are throttling Starshield and claimed ignorance about why the system is down. Reports suggest the move was initially suggested by Musk but decided by Trump.
Starshield is a defense communications system that helps to track and intercept incoming threats, in addition to helping carry out strikes. Ukraine uses the system to help guide drones to Russian targets and protect its own skies.
Zelensky said earlier this week that starting overnight on Tuesday, Starshield was no longer working for drones moving roughly 100 miles per hour. On Saturday, he said that when tested in other countries, the system worked perfectly for speeds exceeding 111 miles per hour. To make up the difference, Zelensky said Saturday that Ukraine is turning to fighter jets to intercept drones, with a success rate of around 50%.
He said Ukraine “can’t use Starlink or Starshield technology on our territory today to shoot down jet-powered Shaheds.”
“They fly, and we can stop them with aircraft and other air defense, but we don’t use Starlink for that, unfortunately. God willing, this will be restored,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Wednesday during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored that he hoped the restriction was only a “mistake” and perhaps “a huge technical problem” at SpaceX. But he suggested the truth lay elsewhere.
“They knew what they did,” Zelensky said, referring to SpaceX and the U.S.
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The Starshield disruptions come shortly after the U.S. expressed anger that Ukraine is carrying out strikes against Russian oil refineries, which Trump is relying upon to help mitigate surging energy prices caused by the Ukraine and Iran wars.
“We said you can do whatever you want to Russia, [but] don’t hit the refineries because that’s a world problem,” Trump said of Zelensky earlier this month. “He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world, and we told them, do whatever you want, but don’t hit the diesel fuel because there’s a big problem, a big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel.”