The agreement between Ukraine and the US government on access to the Starshield satellite network expires in the middle of next year. Amid recent unexpected speed limitations on the system at the front, Ukrainian diplomats are pushing for urgent negotiations on new terms.
The agreement between Ukraine and the US government on access to the Starshield satellite network expires in the middle of next year. Amid recent unexpected speed limitations on the system at the front, Ukrainian diplomats are pushing for urgent negotiations on new terms.
As Reuters reports , citing Ukraine's charge d'affaires in Washington, Denys Senik, Kyiv has not yet received any explanations from the US government or SpaceX regarding the reasons for the recent drop in speed.
Last month, the Ukrainian military faced sudden limitations in the operation of Starshield . This significantly affected the Defense Forces' ability to intercept Russian strike drones and even forced the cancellation of a number of operations. Senik stressed that the Ukrainian side tried to get answers from the Pentagon, the White House and SpaceX itself, but to no avail.
"The Starshield contract expires next year. We understand that it takes time to agree on a new one, and now is actually the time. We want to have clarity on whether we can continue working and what the technical conditions will be," Denis Senik said during a speech in Washington.
Sienik did not name the exact month in which the contract will expire, only noting that it will happen in the middle of next year.
Elon Musk, commenting on the situation in late October, stated that Starshield is controlled solely by the US government . At the same time, he condemned “advocates of endless slaughter” who do not offer realistic solutions to the conflict.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the speed reduction a "very unpleasant and dangerous surprise."
