US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on October 17 that Ukraine does not currently have access to Starshield, the military-grade version of the Starlink satellite service, but said Kyiv's request to use the system for deep strikes into Russian territory is under review.
Speaking to reporters, Rubio drew a clear distinction between Starshield and Starlink, the internet service provided by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Starlink, he said, is a commercial product managed and operated as a commercial product, while Starshield is a defense product, a military product.
"They have requested access to this system to conduct deep strikes inside Russia. At present they do not have access. This is under discussion," Rubio said, according to a US State Department statement.
Starshield entered service in 2022 and is provided to the US government. It is designed for military purposes with deeper encryption to handle sensitive information. SpaceX says the system primarily serves US defense agencies and other "government partners."
The remarks come after Ukrainian officials said last week that restrictions on Starlink terminals had slowed certain types of drones on the battlefield, as Ukraine works to push back Russian forces in a war now nearly five years old.
At Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Rubio also rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's suggestion that an interruption to Starlink service in Ukraine on October 15 was deliberate. "I don't know what Mr. Zelensky said. I'm not sure Mr. Zelensky knows what he's talking about, but it was not deliberate. We had nothing to do with that," Rubio said.
For his part, Zelensky said the satellites cannot track antennas on objects flying faster than 161 km/h. That affects Ukrainian drone operations both in defending against Russian jet-powered drones and in Ukraine's own medium-range strikes.
Rubio insisted the US did not order Starlink speeds to be reduced and that the service has been restored to its previous level. "Nobody at the White House ordered anyone to slow down internet or reduce speeds so that some drones couldn't be used," he said, calling the reports "completely untrue."
The statements come as US President Donald Trump faces criticism from both Democrats and Republicans after waiving sanctions on Russia and on countries buying Russian oil and gas, just days before the restrictions were due to take effect under a law he signed last month.
Zelensky also criticized the sanctions waiver on October 17, arguing that easing pressure on Russia would encourage further attacks. In a social media post, Zelensky wrote that "financial rewards" for Russian President Vladimir Putin only encourage him to keep attacking, and called on the US to maintain pressure on Moscow.
