Ukraine Requested Access to Starshield for Strikes Deep Inside Russia — Rubio
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a joint press conference with India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar following their talks in New Delhi, India, Sunday, May 24, 2026
Ukraine requested access to the Starshield communications system to carry out strikes deep inside Russia, but it does not have such access now, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. «I know Ukraine wants access to Starshield, they do not have Starshield now. They’ve asked for access to it in order to conduct strikes deep strikes inside of Russia. They do not have access to it at this moment,» Rubio told reporters. He also reiterated the difference between US defense communication system Starshield and SpaceX’s commercial product Starlink. On Wednesday, former Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Serhiy Sternenko said that the operation of Starlink satellite communication terminals had been restricted overnight, with connection dropping when moving at speeds exceeding 160 kilometers per hour, which hindered the Ukrainian forces’ operations and constrained their logistics. As a Ukrainian military source told CNN, Kiev is facing significant difficulties due to these operational limitations on the terminals. SpaceX founder Elon Musk previously said that Starshield systems — a military-oriented communication platform modeled after Starlink — were owned and controlled by the US government. He added that any restrictions regarding speed or modes of use are determined exclusively by the US military leadership and, ultimately, by the US president.
