Rubio says Ukraine has no access to Starshield and its future ‘up for discussion’ | Russia-Ukraine War

The US secretary of state said Ukraine had requested access to a military-grade version of Starlink for deep strikes in Russia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite service, was not currently available in Ukraine, but that a request from kyiv to access the system for attacks deep inside Russia was “under discussion”.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Rubio highlighted the distinction between Starshield and Starlink, the internet service provided by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“Starlink is a commercial product, okay? And so it’s regulated and treated like a commercial product. Starshield is a defense product, a military product,” Rubio said, in comments released by the State Department.

“They asked for access in order to carry out strikes deep inside Russia. They don’t have access to it at the moment,” he added. “It’s being discussed.”

Launched in 2022 and supplied to the US government, Starshield is designed for military use because it allows deeper encryption to handle sensitive information. SpaceX says it is primarily used by U.S. defense agencies and other “government partners.”

Last week, Ukrainian officials said restrictions on Starlink terminals had slowed some drones on the battlefield, as Ukraine tries to hold back Russian forces in their nearly five-year war.

In his comments at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Rubio also rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s suggestion that the reported disruption of Starlink services in Ukraine on Wednesday was deliberate.

“Well, I don’t know what Zelensky said. I’m not sure Zelensky knows what he’s talking about, but it wasn’t deliberate. We had nothing to do with it,” Rubio said.

Zelensky said Saturday that satellites do not track the antennas of flying objects moving faster than 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour). This affects Ukrainian drones in their defense against Russian jet drones and in their own medium-range attacks, he added.

Rubio said the United States did not order Starlink’s speeds to be reduced and that service would have been restored to its previous level.

“No one at the White House ordered anyone to slow down the internet or slow down the speed so that some drones couldn’t use it,” he said, calling the reports “categorically false.”

The remarks came as U.S. President Donald Trump drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans after lifting sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its oil and gas, days before the restrictions took effect under a law he signed last month.

Zelensky also criticized the lifting of sanctions on Saturday, saying easing pressure on Russia would encourage further attacks.

“Financial rewards for (President Vladimir) Putin – all this only encourages him to continue attacking,” Zelensky posted on social media, urging the United States to maintain pressure on Moscow.