Zelensky Says Starshield Throttled Again; SpaceX Says Nothing Has Changed

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network, is again being throttled over Ukraine, and SpaceX denied that anything has changed. Zelensky said Ukrainian units had recorded significant malfunctions for several days along the front line and in occupied territory. He called it a systemic speed restriction rather than random errors. Ukrainian interceptors reportedly lose their satellite guidance connection if they fly faster than about 100 miles per hour, which Zelensky said makes shooting down Russian jet-powered drones much harder. A Ukrainian official confirmed the limits to CBS News. Ukraine has asked the Pentagon and SpaceX to explain, and Zelensky said Kyiv knows very little from the American side. SpaceX told the Washington Examiner the claims are false and that Starshield has not changed. Ukraine reported a first round of restrictions in October, resolved on Oct. 24 after about 10 days. Musk suggested then that he had temporarily cut off Starlink because Ukraine was using it for offensive strikes. The new claim came as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Washington Examiner, on the right, leads with SpaceX's denial in its headline and opening line. It stresses that the new claim comes weeks after Kyiv said similar problems were resolved. It recounts Zelensky's earlier suggestion of a "planned operation" by SpaceX and the U.S., and Musk's offensive-use explanation. It also quotes Zelensky's remark about "someone in America" making decisions. CBS News, on the left, leads with Zelensky's claim and its battlefield effect, setting it against the Witkoff and Kushner trip to Moscow. It features Zelensky's post and a Ukrainian official's confirmation, and the opening shown does not include SpaceX's response. Both sides report the roughly 100 mph limit and the October precedent. They differ on whose account comes first: the right foregrounds the company's rebuttal, while the left foregrounds Ukrainian military sources and the diplomatic context. Axios, an alternative source, puts both the claim and the denial in its headline and notes Ukraine's request that the Pentagon and SpaceX explain.