Zelensky says SpaceX Starshield is again speed-limited for Ukraine's army

What Zelensky reported

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, 12 November 2026, that his country's units had been logging serious malfunctions in Starshield, the military satellite communications system run by SpaceX. He made the statement in posts on social media, citing reports from Defence Minister Yevheniy Khmara and Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapaty. According to Zelensky, the disruptions extend along the entire front line and into the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine. He rejected the idea that the problems were random faults, describing instead a systematic restriction that keeps the system from reaching the maximum speed it is meant to allow.

“Unfortunately, for several days our units have been recording significant disruptions in the operation of Starshield over Ukrainian territory.”

Speed cap and interception

The cap is set at 161 kilometres per hour, or 100 miles per hour, according to the figures in Zelensky's statement. The practical problem is interception. Ukrainian systems that need to shoot down Russian jet-powered drones cannot reach the speed required to intercept them in time. Zelensky said that some attacks had already got through for exactly that reason. His complaint concerns speed rather than outages, since the system is described as operating but below its permitted maximum. He was blunt about the military cost of the restriction.

“This is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more precise attacks against Ukraine.”

Earlier restrictions and the Starlink link

Similar restrictions had already hindered the Ukrainian army in October, according to BFM. Earlier still, Starlink owner Elon Musk reduced the network speed available to Ukraine, a move that Ukrainian air defence and frontline soldiers said seriously hampered them. The articles date the earlier episode to October, but they give no date for the Musk speed reduction. The dated points are set out in the timeline below.

Investigation and talks with Washington

Zelensky said the Ukrainian army had already examined the conditions and concluded that the cause is not random errors but a systematic speed limit. He said Ukraine is trying to clarify all aspects of the matter with the American side. Starshield is operated by SpaceX, the company the reports name as behind the system. The published reports contain no response from SpaceX or from the United States government. Ukrainian officials have not, in these reports, described a fix or a timetable for restoring full speed, and the detail on what was raised with Washington is limited to Zelensky's brief remark.