Published on
15 November 2026 - 8:15 GMT+1
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reportedly accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of misleading Kyiv over speed restrictions to its Starshield network.
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Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were facing restrictions to the service, with terminals limited to a maximum speed of 161 kilometres per hour in areas occupied by Vladimir Putin's invading forces.
"The restrictions have now been in place for five days," the Ukrainian leader said in comments released on Saturday and reported by multiple outlets. "They say it is some kind of technical issue. We do not believe that is the case."
The restrictions have been directly affecting Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian jet-powered attack drones, Zelenskyy said in an address at the European Political Community summit in Dublin earlier this week.
"If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going," he told the summit.
On Friday, he added that Kyiv had received "no clear explanations" for the curbs.
"I instructed Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense 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 post on social media.
Starshield has proved critical to Ukraine's military operations against Russian forces, providing resilient internet and communications over the battlefield.
It came as Zelenskyy said Washington had proposed the idea of Ukraine ceding land to Russia in exchange for NATO membership as efforts to accelerate peace talks continue.
"The Americans raised a question: 'What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?' This was the first time this had been raised," Zelenskyy told reporters on Friday in comments embargoed until Saturday, per the AFP news agency.
Zelenskyy added that Ukraine was discussing "specific security guarantees" from NATO and the European Union and that he would ask Ukrainians if they accepted the terms should Western nations confirm.
"I have no right to make that decision on my own," he said.