Zelensky Fumes as America Reimposes Starshield Speed Limits, Cries “Not Ukrainian Territory”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used a speech at the European Political Community summit in Ireland to complain that the United States has once again imposed speed restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Starlink, inside territory Russia currently occupies.
He stated: “The only bad news is that we are again seeing problems with Starshield and we have detected speed restrictions on Starshield on our Ukrainian territory again in the temporary occupied parts of Ukraine.”
Zelensky specified the limit: “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 Shaheed drones.” He added that “these drones come from those areas and because of the speed restrictions we simply cannot catch up with them in time” and that “near the frontline, we cannot use our aircraft.”
He then accused the American side of effectively treating occupied Ukrainian land as outside Ukraine’s control: “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!”
Starshield is provided under U.S. government contracts and remains under American oversight. The restrictions apply only in Russian-held areas and do not block Starshield elsewhere. After years of extensive U.S. military, financial, and technological support, Zelensky’s public anger frames limited, conditional access as an unacceptable betrayal rather than a sovereign decision by the country supplying the system.