Ukrainian officials say their equipment goes dead once it moves too fast. “In various sectors of the front, the equipment ceases to function at speeds of 130–161 kilometers per hour,” they have complained, describing a speed limit on weapons that connect through SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield satellite services.
One of the country’s larger weapons makers is now asking whether it should depend on the system at all.
Who ordered the slowdown
Nobody has said so openly. Reuters reported that the order “came from inside the White House,” citing two U.S. officials and a Western official. Defense Department leaders, those officials said, were told the Starshield service used by Ukraine’s military had to be slowed.
Washington’s answers contradict each other. “No such request was ever made by the president,” a U.S. official told The War Zone. A senior Pentagon official said there had been no change to Department of War policy on intelligence sharing or on what capabilities it lets Europeans provide to Ukraine, and the Pentagon declined to be more specific. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later said the Pentagon ordered no changes and that Ukraine had violated Starlink’s terms of service.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, said last week that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately” President Donald Trump. SpaceX did not immediately respond to The War Zone’s request for comment. Musk had earlier refused Ukrainian requests to use Starlink against targets inside Russia.
The timing coincides with a cooling between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump has claimed that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure cut diesel supplies to the U.S. and other countries by more than the conflict in the Middle East did. On Oct. 9 he announced on Truth Social that he had arranged to buy diesel from Russia.
Zelensky raised the matter in a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The situation with Starlink/Starshield… needs to be restored,” he said. Rubio denied that any assistance was being withheld and said Starlink “is a private company.”
What it means for weapons makers
Wild Hornets, a major Ukrainian combat drone maker, builds the Sting interceptors used against Russian Shahed drones. Its spokesman said current operations are unaffected, because its own communications system handles the basic link to the interceptors and its remote-control technology can use many sources of internet connectivity. Its Starlink terminals stay put, he said, working “somewhat similar to cell towers.”
New projects are another matter. Drones that carry a terminal aboard and fly fast cannot work under the limit, he said, which has the company rethinking plans such as launching interceptors from aerial platforms. “We don’t have a clear decision yet, but we will be testing alternatives,” he said. He added: “Depending on a single solution is very risky. Especially if you don’t have full control over it.”
Mamuka Mamulashvili, commander of the Georgian Legion, which fights in the Kramatorsk region, said the trouble went beyond the speed cap. Connectivity itself kept switching on and off, which hit drone systems well below 160 km/h. “When you lose the connection between the operator and the drone, you can lose control of the situation in seconds,” he said. His unit adapted, though it cost them. Alternatives such as mobile internet, fiber-optic links, radio and OneWeb exist, he said, but “none of them can fully replace Starlink in Ukraine right now.”
Russian voices are watching with satisfaction. The milblogger Vladimir Romanov wrote that slowing Starlink has “significantly reduced the enemy’s ability to launch medium-range drone strikes” along the R-280 highway, the road linking occupied southern Ukraine to Crimea. Ukrainian units have used the SpaceX system to extend drone range as far as 150 miles into Russian-occupied territory, The War Zone reported.
