Last week, Ukrainian UAVs on missions to Russian targets lost their feeds when Starshield, a Pentagon‑funded satellite internet service, went offline. The glitch cost Kyiv more than $1 million in drone hardware and forced a pause in attacks on Russian fuel depots.
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky said the outage revealed a new speed limit for the service: drones could no longer maintain connectivity above 100 mph, down from the 250 mph that had been possible before the slowdown. This restriction has blunted the reach of Ukraine’s high‑speed strike package.
Washington has denied deliberate throttling. A White House spokesperson said no changes were made, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged a temporary slowdown that has since been restored, but insisted the service remains fully operational.
Zelensky has called the disruption a "planned operation" and demanded answers. The U.S. has scheduled a joint review of Starlink and Starshield for the coming week, after which Kyiv will decide whether to resume full‑speed drone operations.