Speed caps continue to impede strike and interceptor drones across Ukraine
Ukrainian drone units and government officials said early Friday that connections with Starshield continued to fail across most of the country when drones flew faster than 161 kilometers an hour, equivalent to around 100 miles an hour. Starshield is a military-grade service using Starlink’s infrastructure. President Trump said Elon Musk had restored the service, but Ukrainian officials said the speed cap remained.
Hopes that normal service was returning rose Thursday after some units successfully tested drones at 200 kilometers an hour. U.S. and Ukrainian officials said the system appeared to be working more normally again after severe disruptions lasting more than a week. Later testing proved unsuccessful, and most of Ukraine’s military continued to report failing connections late Thursday and overnight. Dmytro Lytvyn wrote late Thursday on X, “We see the same limit,” and added, “So as for now—nothing has changed.”
SpaceX imposed the speed restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starshield on Oct. 14. Ukrainian drone missions then began failing as pilots lost video connections and control over steering. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk himself ordered the restrictions and held conversations with Trump about them. U.S. officials said Trump called Musk on Wednesday and asked him to lift the restriction. Trump declined on Thursday to say whether he had made the call himself. He said, “I don’t want to comment on it, whether I called, or whether somebody else called,” and added, “The bottom line, he put it back.”
Ukrainian officials said they could not determine why drone speeds remained limited. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. One Ukrainian official said pilots were still forced to fly slowly to avoid navigation problems as they approached 160 kilometers an hour. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense-technology adviser to Zelensky, said Friday on Telegram, “At this time, we have not observed any lifting of restrictions on Starlink.” Beskrestnov said isolated cases in which the service operated slightly faster were likely caused by SpaceX’s algorithm or specific usage conditions rather than a general lifting of the restrictions.
Ukrainian officials said the successful 200-kilometer-an-hour tests were largely limited to areas near the Black Sea. The officials said they did not know why performance differed by location and that Kyiv was still seeking explanations from the United States.
The restrictions threaten Ukraine’s campaign of medium-range strikes against Russian army logistics behind the fronts in eastern and southern Ukraine. The campaign has helped hold back Russian offensives this year and limited Russia to tiny advances at the cost of huge casualties, the report said. Military analysts warned that continued impairment could accelerate a Russian advance.
The limits have also constrained Ukraine’s use of high-speed interceptors intended to shoot down Russian jet-powered drones attacking Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Those attacks have caused mounting civilian casualties, according to the report.
A commander from the Khartiia Brigade on the eastern front said he had seen no increase in speed limits and that pilots still had to fly below 160 kilometers an hour.
In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a drone pilot said his unit’s connections were spotty. Some pilots could fly fast, while others lost their connections even at speeds well below 160 kilometers an hour, he said. Before Thursday, high-speed connections consistently failed, whereas the situation was random by Friday.
The Zaporizhzhia pilot said five of 10 drones were lost when their connections failed during a Thursday-night mission. The Russian target, an ammunition and drone depot, was nevertheless destroyed. Brut, a drone commander on the southern front, said fewer connectivity issues remained above 150 kilometers an hour but recommended that speeds stay at or below 160.
Ukraine’s military access to Starshield through Starlink terminals stems from agreements between SpaceX and the U.S. Department of Defense and is one of the few remaining forms of American support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion. The disruption heightened anger in Ukraine over recent U.S. moves toward Russia and prompted backlash among U.S. lawmakers, including some Republicans.
Musk’s move reawakened concerns in Europe over the risks of relying on Starlink and on the U.S. for satellite capabilities in defense. Earlier in the week, a European Union spokesman said Ukraine’s experience showed the urgency of the continent doing more to develop its own space capabilities. Sebastian Schaefer, a German lawmaker and defense-policy specialist from the opposition Green Party, said, “The reality in Kyiv is really gruesome.” He added, “We do see that it is not a good idea to put our security in the hands of billionaires.”
Earlier, Ukrainian officials suspected Trump had ordered the restrictions, while Musk said the limits were set by the U.S. military and ultimately Trump. Friday’s mixed results did not establish that the speed cap had been lifted.