Ukraine warns of fresh Starshield disruptions as U.S. envoys arrive in Moscow for talks with Putin

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 temporarily 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, adding that they are trying to establish the circumstances with the U.S.

Zelenskyy said the restrictions imposed an effective speed limit on terminals moving at speeds above 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), disconnecting anything that was moving faster and making 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.”

On Oct. 14, Ukrainian officials accused SpaceX of undermining the country’s ability to defend itself by cutting connectivity speeds and thereby disrupting military operations. On October 24, Zelenskyy confirmed that systems had returned to their previous operating speeds.

According to The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered those restrictions, rendering some Ukrainian strike and interceptor drones virtually unusable. The newspaper later reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had asked Musk to reverse the move. Trump has denied that the White House ordered Starlink restrictions in Ukraine.

Musk initially appeared to pin responsibility for any restrictions on the U.S. government, writing on X that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government.” He later claimed Ukraine had violated Starlink’s terms of service, prompting the company to restrict its access to the high-speed satellite technology, something that Ukrainian officials have strongly contested.

Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense tech advisor to Zelenskyy, said at the time that Ukraine cannot use commercial Starlink for medium- or long-range drone strikes because the service does not operate over Russian territory and had imposed drone speed limits of 70–90 kilometers per hour for months.

On Thursday, Beskrestnov confirmed that “the speed of Starlink operation during movement was again limited.”

“We did not rejoice for long,” he said, adding that “any terms can be changed and discussed, instead of leaving our country without sky protection.”

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.