Ukraine is negotiating with SpaceX, the Pentagon and the US government to remove satellite connection restrictions affecting military drones. No agreement had been reached, according to Associated Press reporting cited by a Romanian news agency.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on October 17 that service remained limited and had not returned to full capacity. He said the restrictions hindered drones intercepting Russian jet-powered drones and carrying out Ukraine’s own medium-range attacks.

Restrictions affect connections at high speeds

The reports concern Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, and Starshield, its service for governments and armed forces. The precise scope of the restrictions across the two services remains unclear.

Zelensky described a connection limit for flying objects travelling faster than 161 km/h, while Romanian reporting put the threshold at 160 km/h. The restriction concerns how fast terminals move, rather than simply the speed of data transmission.

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The Romanian report said the limit also affected Ukrainian helicopters used to intercept Russian drones. It said Russia’s jet-powered Shahed drones could exceed 400 km/h, complicating interception by Ukrainian aircraft operating under the connection limit.

Accounts differed on whether service had recovered: Zelensky said restrictions remained, while Kyiv media, citing the Ukrainian military, reported unrestricted service had resumed. The extent of any restoration remains uncertain.

Kyiv questions the reason for the limits

Zelensky said tests in European Union countries showed satellite connections remained active in cars travelling at 180 km/h. He said the results indicated that the restrictions applied only to Ukraine, although the tests’ evidential value was difficult to assess.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said Kyiv did not know why the limit had been introduced. He said officials now regarded the issue as political as well as technical or commercial.

Reuters reported that the decision came from the White House. US President Donald Trump said he had not ordered the restrictions and did not think SpaceX founder Elon Musk was responsible.

Musk said Starshield was owned and controlled by the US government. Decisions on its use rested with the US military and ultimately the president, he said.

Ukraine seeks unrestricted access and alternatives

Kyiv is seeking either removal of the limit or access to an aircraft version of Starshield without a speed restriction, according to the Romanian report. That version is considerably more expensive.

Ukraine is also considering alternatives, including Amazon’s satellite network and OneWeb, owned by France’s Eutelsat. The European system is already used in Ukraine but cannot yet replace all Starshield functions, particularly communications for high-speed military drones, the report said.