Overview
- President Volodymyr Selenskyj said on Thursday, November 12 that Ukrainian units had logged multi-day disruptions to Starshield and that the service appeared to be capped at about 161 km/h, which broke links for faster aircraft and drones.
- Kyiv says the throttling directly degraded its ability to intercept Russian jet-powered loitering munitions and that several drone strikes penetrated defences during the outage.
- SpaceX and U.S. officials have issued conflicting accounts of who can order or controls Starshield restrictions, with Elon Musk saying the U.S. government decides and White House and Pentagon figures disputing that claim.
- U.S. Democratic senators have asked SpaceX to preserve documents and answer questions by November 30, opening a formal oversight path, while SpaceX has denied recent changes to service over Ukraine in some statements to media.
- The episodes have pushed Kyiv to press the U.S. for explanations, seek early talks to extend its Starshield contract due mid-2027, and accelerate plans for independent satellite and space-defense capabilities to reduce reliance on a single commercial provider.