Starshield Speed Throttling Returns in Ukraine
by: Marcus Webb

Starshield Speed Throttling Returns in Ukraine, Zelensky Says

The speed cap on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite service is back, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, Nov. 12, less than three weeks after it was lifted. Ukrainian units have recorded “significant disruptions” to Starshield over Ukraine for several days, he wrote on X after briefings from Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara and the commander-in-chief, Mykhailo Drapatyi. He said the service is being limited to 161 kilometers per hour (100 mph) along the whole front line and in Russian-occupied territory, and that “these are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” CNBC and Euronews reported.

The cap matters because of what Ukraine flies through the network. Its interceptor drones can’t reach the speed they need to catch Russia’s jet-powered attack drones, and some Russian strikes have already got through because of it, Zelensky said. “Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians,” he wrote, according to the Kyiv Independent and CNN.

He didn’t say who imposed it. Ukraine is trying to establish the circumstances with the U.S. side, he said, and a Ukrainian official told Reuters it was unclear who had made the decision. Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Denys Sienik, said there had been no clarification so far from SpaceX or the Pentagon.

SpaceX gave two answers

SpaceX declined to comment to Reuters. It told CNN there had been “no change in its service.” The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters, and the White House didn’t answer CNBC either. No U.S. official had commented publicly on the new restrictions by Thursday afternoon.

Outside Washington, a European Commission spokesperson, Tom Renier, called the reports concerning and said the disruptions would be unacceptable if confirmed, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing The Guardian. The bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus asked the Trump administration and SpaceX for a full explanation, according to the same report.

The same day as the Kremlin meeting

Zelensky’s post went up as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner flew to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, a day after two days of U.S.-brokered talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi ended without a breakthrough. “I think progress was made,” Witkoff told reporters after the Kremlin meeting, according to CNN and TIME. The two envoys then headed to Dublin, where Zelensky was attending the European Political Community summit, to brief him.

No source has linked the restrictions to the talks. The disruptions weren’t raised in Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported.

The October cap came amid tensions with the Trump administration over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, Reuters noted.

What became of the October questions

When we covered the first cap on Oct. 21, the open questions were who ordered it, whether service had really been restored, whether anyone would investigate, and what the contract behind it says.

Who ordered it. The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 20 that Elon Musk ordered the slowdown. Four days later, Musk wrote on X that Ukraine’s military “violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people,” and that “that loophole was closed last week,” CNBC reported. He had earlier blamed the U.S. government, and he still says Starshield is “owned and controlled by the US government.” Trump that day confirmed the Journal’s report that he had asked Musk to ease the limits. “I have spoken to Elon Musk,” he told reporters, according to CNBC. No one has taken responsibility for the new cap.

Whether it was lifted. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Oct. 17 claim that service was back did not hold then. It was restored a week later. On Oct. 24, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its monitoring showed stable connections at more than 400 km/h, CNBC and Euronews reported, and General Staff data from Oct. 26 showed the caps fully lifted, with tests at up to 470 km/h, UNITED24 reported. The new disruptions began several days before Zelensky’s Nov. 12 post, by his account.

Whether anyone would investigate. Nine senators, four of them Republicans, asked the Defense Department’s inspector general on Oct. 15 to investigate. The inspector general declined. On Oct. 27, the office told lawmakers their questions should go to the Air Force and Space Force, Stars and Stripes reported, citing CNN. A spokeswoman, Mollie Halpern, said the office had “carefully considered the congressional request” and concluded the matters were best handled by the department, and that it might reconsider if new information came to light. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who led the request, said it was “concerning” that the inspector general had apparently decided not to look into the disruptions.

The contract. Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both pointed in October to the terms of a private contract with SpaceX. We found no sign that the terms have been published since, and the Pentagon still hasn’t said publicly whether Musk advises its Project Meridian review as a special government employee or a contractor.

Even the name of the service is still in dispute. Rubio said in October that Ukraine had never had Starshield. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Zelensky call it Starshield. Our October report, Did Musk Ordered Ukraine’s Starlink Cap? WSJ Says; Rubio Shifts, has the full timeline of the first cap and the shifting accounts of who ordered it.

Sources

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