乌克兰称，在美方谈判代表与普京会晤之际，Starshield服务再次中断

Ukraine Says Starshield Disruptions Are Back As U.S. Negotiators Meet With Putin

SpaceX denies the Starshield system has been altered, but it is the second time in a month Ukraine has said this key satellite service has been degraded.

By Howard Altman

Published Nov 12, 2026 4:00 PM EST

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For the second time in a month , Ukrainian officials and military personnel are complaining that weapons using SpaceX’s vital Starshield satellite communications system have had limits placed on the speeds at which they can operate. The officials say the latest Starshield issues are impairing Ukraine’s ability to defend against Russian missile barrages and strike targets far behind the lines in Ukrainian territory that Russia holds. Ukrainians made similar claims in October, and the service was eventually restored .

The complaints, from President Volodymyr Zelensky, one of his main advisors, and frontline troops, are being made as U.S. negotiators met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in another White House-brokered effort to end the war. Some Ukrainians are reportedly even claiming the Starshield system is being impacted to pressure Ukraine to bend to Russian demands to give up territory.

SpaceX denied the allegations.

“This is false,” a SpaceX official told us. “There has been no change.”

While TWZ cannot independently verify the Ukrainian claims about Starshield, the issue again highlights the challenges Kyiv faces fighting a war while relying on donated equipment and services. The country is working on alternatives, including developing its own satellite communications system . However, even Ukrainian officials acknowledge that it won’t come close to replacing the SpaceX system.

What Is Starshield?

Starshield is the SpaceX satellite communications system designed specifically for government and military clients, including the Pentagon .

“Starshield leverages SpaceX’s Starlink technology and launch capability to support national security efforts,” according to the company . “While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas: Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads.”

In addition, “Starshield uses additional high-assurance cryptographic capability to host classified payloads and process data securely,” the company adds. This allows military users, like Ukraine, to communicate securely, though Russia is working on methods of jamming the signals.

Starshield “is the version where you have much higher speeds, you have better connectivity and it’s not available for civilians; it’s available only for the military,” Olena Tregub, founder and secretary-general of Ukraine’s Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, told The Associated Press .

Tregub said reliable, high-speed connectivity was essential for Ukrainian military operations involving drones and units moving rapidly on the ground and in the air. Operators need clear, real-time video feeds to identify what is happening and make decisions, she added.

Ukraine has a large number of aerial, sea and land drones equipped with the SpaceX terminals for communications. As we have noted in the past, a limit on how fast Starshield terminals on vehicles can travel before the feed is cut off in certain areas impacts a slew of weapons and campaigns, especially strikes on Russian logistics behind enemy lines and in the Sea of Asov , as well as the control of defensive interceptor drones critical for taking down Russian long-range one-way attack drones, like the notorious Shahed-136.

What Ukraine Is Claiming

“Unfortunately, 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,” Zelensky stated Thursday on X. “Specifically, systematic speed restrictions are being imposed on Starshield, limiting it to 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour).”

“The Ukrainian military have already investigated the circumstances, and these are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” the Ukrainian leader added. “For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones.

Unfortunately, there have already been strikes that got through because our interception systems cannot reach sufficient speeds and are unable to intercept in time. Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine. We are trying to establish all the circumstances with the American side.”

We have detected speed restrictions on Starshield on our Ukrainian territory – in the temporarily occupied parts of Ukraine. The speed limit is back at 161 kilometers per hour – that’s 100 miles per hour.

This directly affects our ability to intercept Russian jet-powered… pic.twitter.com/zJD48pUS2X

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 12, 2026

Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, the presidential advisor on defense technology, noted glumly that Starshield limits are affecting aircraft used to shoot down Russian Shahed drones.

“The operational speed of the Starshield system has once again been restricted while in motion,” he stated on Telegram . “We didn’t enjoy that for long. Consequently, problems have re-emerged with communication with helicopters tracking Shahed drones, and with interceptor aircraft that shoot down these drones.”

Frontline troops say the Starshield issue is affecting their ability to use so-called mid-range strike drones to hit Russian logistics targets deep behind the lines in Ukrainian territory that Moscow’s forces currently hold.

“I spoke to a unit on Monday who told me the same thing about the 160 km/h limit for Star Shield, in particular, in occupied areas,” Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Marine veteran, stated on X. “This is affecting their middle strike drones, making them easier to intercept.”

I spoke to a unit on Monday who told me the same thing about the 160 km/h limit for Star Shield, in particular, in occupied areas. This is affecting their middle strike drones, making them easier to intercept. https://t.co/QhQ6FN8341

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) November 12, 2026

“Some of their middle strike drones operate at higher speeds so they have to fly slower than necessary leaving them vulnerable to interceptors,” Lee told us when we asked for more details. “More of the middle strike drones are being intercepted.”

Lee added that so far, it is difficult to determine how battlefield operations are being affected.

“It just started,” he pointed out.

As we have previously reported, the First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine installed Starlink systems on its mid-range strike drones, helping to dramatically boost the range to as far as 150 miles.

The following video shows some of those strikes .

The First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine maintains control over enemy logistics near Donetsk.

Strike UAV pilots are targeting Russian logistics deep in the operational rear. Drone units maintain constant surveillance and fire control over all supply routes around… pic.twitter.com/i4TYOWJBg4

— First Corps Azov of the National Guard of Ukraine (@azov_media) April 16, 2026

After the previous Starshield issue in October, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the decision to place a limit on the system was up to the U.S. military and the Trump administration to decide. However, the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Musk gave the order to slow down Starshield, with the paper’s sources in disagreement over whether this was made in concert with President Donald Trump. The paper also reported that the president had asked Musk to restore the service, with Trump later telling reporters the system was “back.”

Last month, TWZ editor-in-chief Tyler Rogoway questioned how Musk would be able to order any changes to the way Starshield operates, given contracts SpaceX has with the Pentagon.

“I have real reservations about this claim,” he stated on X. “Starshield is bound by mountains of terms of service between the Pentagon on SpaceX. The idea that Musk just pulled and Office Space in Starlink HQ and told the watch worker to put up a speed gate on terminals around Ukraine sounds like a massive problem for the Pentagon as well as Ukraine. So yeah, I have real questions here.”

“Basically, this would mean DoW has no control over its proprietary critical communications networks that it is paying mountains of money for,” he added. “Literally a gigantic strategic issue that would undermine future investment in Starshield.”

I have real reservations about this claim. Starshield is bound by mountains of terms of service between the Pentagon on SpaceX. The idea that Musk just pulled and Office Space in Starlink HQ and told the watch worker to put up a speed gate on terminals around Ukraine sounds like… https://t.co/bhKY6PYxMn

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) October 20, 2026

The Russians also faced limits on how they could use the SpaceX system. We reported in February that Russia was frantically trying to plug massive communications gaps after Musk, working with Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, restricted the Starlink satellite communications system in and around Ukraine to only registered users . Russians had been installing unregistered Starlink terminals on drones to provide beyond-line-of-sight connectivity and resistance to jamming.

As we noted at the top of this piece, some Ukrainians say the claimed current Starshield issues are tied to the ongoing peace talks.

“Senior Ukrainian officials told the FT they believed the speed restrictions were imposed in an effort to pressure Kyiv during the latest peace talks with Russia, which just concluded in Abu Dhabi,” the Financial Times reported on Thursday .

Among the major roadblocks to a deal is that Russia is seeking permanent control over Crimea, as well as four other regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, including large chunks of territory still held by Ukraine. Zelensky so far has been unwilling to agree to those demands.

What’s The Latest On Negotiations?

The two-day trilateral negotiations between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi concluded on Wednesday , with just an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange, but no big breakthroughs on ending Moscow’s full-on invasion.

On Thursday, U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Putin in Moscow, according to Russian media . The U.S. is seeking to add the Europeans to the negotiating process.

“We see some progress on the European side, we see that they express a desire to participate in the negotiations, they express the desire to end this conflict. We hope that if we manage to involve them in this multilateral format, we will be able to successfully end this conflict,” Kushner told Putin, according to the official Russian TASS news outlet.

Putin, for his part, “reaffirmed Russia’s readiness for dialogue with European nations,” according to the pro-Kremlin Izvestia news outlet . The Russian leader also “noted that the humanitarian mission in Oleshky had been a positive experience for Moscow; he proposed organizing a similar mission in Konstantinovka—with invitations extended to foreign media.”

As we reported yesterday , Ukraine has expressed regrets over that temporary ceasefire because it allowed Russian forces to move back into positions they had previously abandoned under withering drone strikes.

Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky said he had low expectations.

“The Americans have flown to meet Putin with concrete proposals. I would very much like them to arrive in Dublin with concrete answers. I don’t really believe they will, but there is hope,” he told reporters.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

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