ZELENSKYY: EXPAND STARLINK ACCESS AND PUTIN COULD BE FORCED TO NEGOTIATE
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is urging the United States and SpaceX to allow Ukraine to use Starlink over Russian territory, arguing that the expanded capability could change the course of the war within months
“Help us protect our skies and dominate them. Then Putin will sit down at the negotiating table. Why? Because he will lose everything. Two or three months—and he will lose everything,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine already uses Starlink extensively for communications inside Ukraine and across occupied territory. Zelenskyy’s request concerns removing restrictions that prevent Ukrainian long-range drones from using the network while operating deeper inside Russia.
Such access could help Ukrainian drones maintain reliable communications while hunting mobile missile launchers, air-defense systems and other military targets Russia attempts to conceal far behind the front.
Zelenskyy’s argument is that Putin will not negotiate seriously while he believes Russia can continue launching missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities without facing comparable pressure. Give Ukraine the ability to dominate the skies and destroy the systems supporting those attacks, he says, and Moscow’s calculations could change rapidly.
This is not a request to introduce Starlink to Ukraine. It is a request to remove the invisible boundary protecting Russian military infrastructure from the same technology that has helped Ukraine survive.