Published 15 November 2026 – 8:15 GMT+1
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of misleading Kyiv over speed restrictions imposed on its Starshield satellite network.
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were being throttled, with terminals capped at a maximum speed of 161 kilometres per hour in territories held by Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.
“The restrictions have now been in place for five days,” the Ukrainian leader said in remarks released on Saturday and carried by several news outlets. “They claim it is some kind of technical issue. We do not believe that to be the case.”
The curbs have directly hampered Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russia’s jet-powered attack drones, Zelenskyy said in an address to the European Political Community summit in Dublin earlier this week.
“If someone in America is making decisions that effectively treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then that tells us where things are heading,” he told the summit.
On Friday, he added that Kyiv had received “no clear explanations” for the limitations.
“I have instructed Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence to step up contacts with the U.S. Department of State, the Pentagon, and SpaceX to obtain clarification and resolve the situation,” he wrote in a social media post.
Starshield has proven critical to Ukraine’s military campaign against Russian forces, delivering resilient internet connectivity and communications across the battlefield.
His remarks came as Zelenskyy revealed that Washington had floated the idea of Ukraine ceding territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership, as efforts to accelerate peace talks press ahead.
“The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from the Donbas?’ This was the first time the issue had been raised,” Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday in comments embargoed until Saturday, according to the AFP news agency.
He added that Ukraine was weighing “specific security guarantees” from NATO and the European Union, and that he would put the terms to Ukrainians should Western nations confirm them.
“I have no right to make that decision on my own,” he said.
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