President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite communications system are hindering its ability to intercept Russian drones.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield satellite communications system are hindering its ability to intercept Russian drones.
Zelenskyy said the limitations—on the system operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX—could weaken defenses around Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, when Moscow has repeatedly targeted the power grid.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s interceptor drones continue to lose contact with operators when flying faster than 161 kilometres per hour (100 mph) along the front line and over Russian-occupied territory, which leaves them unable to catch Russian Shahed drones.
Zelenskyy said, “We are counting on these restrictions to be lifted,” adding that “The protection of lives and Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter depends on this.” He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the President’s Office have been instructed to work closely with the American side and SpaceX.
Zelenskyy also questioned Saturday whether the issue was technical, saying the restrictions appeared to have been imposed by SpaceX despite earlier assurances from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Starshield was more under U.S. government control.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 2,300 drones, 1,590 guided aerial bombs and 15 missiles of various types against Ukraine over the past week.
On the ground, a Russian strike on Chornomorsk, a port city in Ukraine’s Odesa region, injured six people and damaged energy infrastructure, regional head Oleh Kiper said Sunday on Telegram. Kiper said the strike damaged a gas pipeline and nearby residential buildings, and that two parked cars caught fire. He said the strike hit a facility operated by DTEK Odesa Electric Networks and temporarily left about 41,000 customers without power.
In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said overnight Russian airstrikes injured another six people, including a 2-year-old boy.
In Russia, Gov. Yuri Slyusar said Ukrainian drone strikes damaged two electrical substations in Russia’s Rostov region, killing a chief engineer. He said four people were injured when drone debris fell on their cars, and a fifth person was wounded when debris struck a “production facility” in the village of Troitskoye.
Ukrainian forces also targeted Russia’s Tatarstan region, officials said. Radmir Belyaev, mayor of Nizhnekamsk—the region’s third-largest city—said a “large-scale and prolonged attack” damaged its industrial zone and that six people were injured, with heating and hot water supplies disrupted in parts of the city.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 533 Ukrainian drones overnight across 13 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.
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