Contract with Starshield expires next year, - Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in U.S.
Ukraine's contract with the U.S. government's Starshield satellite system is set to expire next year.
According to Censor.NET, this was stated by Denys Senik, Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in the U.S., as reported by Reuters.
Ukraine wants to reach an agreement in advance on extending the contract
According to Senik, the Ukrainian side should already begin negotiations on extending the agreement. This is necessary to agree on new terms of cooperation in a timely manner.
"The contract expires next year for Starshield. And we understand that it requires time to negotiate a new one," the diplomat noted.
He also emphasized that it is important for Ukraine to receive a clear answer in advance regarding future cooperation with the U.S.
"We want to have a clarity, basically, if we can proceed and what the terms of reference will be," Senik said.
The U.S. is preparing to review Starshield’s operations
Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has sent letters to private companies urging them to preserve documents in anticipation of upcoming investigations.
These investigations are expected to take place during the next session of Congress, when Democrats will control the legislature.
Elon Musk, in particular, received one of these letters. It refers to the slowdown in the operation of the Starshield system in Ukraine.
What led up to this?
- On October 14, volunteer and former advisor to the Minister of Defense Serhiy Sternenko stated that overnight, SpaceX restricted the operation of Starlink terminals for the Ukrainian military. As a result, he said, "a number of important missions were disrupted." The restrictions were imposed on data transmission based on the speed of the UAVs using Starlink.
- Sergey Beskrestnov (Flash) later confirmed this information. According to him, the restrictions could also complicate the use of drones designed to intercept jet-powered suicide drones.
- Units of the 7th Corps of the Airborne Forces also reported that they began experiencing issues with Starlink connectivity in the Huliaipole area last night. This refers to the Starshield package—the so-called military package—which previously had no data transfer speed limits.
- Later, former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stated that the network is being restored to speeds of up to 160 km/h.
- At the same time, Elon Musk stated that he is not the one who sets the limits for Starshield, which Ukraine is using. This system is controlled by the U.S. government, not SpaceX.
- According to Reuters, the norder to restrict Starshield for Ukraine was issued by the White House.
- On October 16, U.S. President Trump stated that Washington was not involved in the slowdown of the "military package" of Starlink (Starshield) satellite communications for the Ukrainian military.
- On October 19, Zelenskyy reported that in various sectors of the front, Ukrainian military equipment equipped with the Starlink system stops functioning at speeds of 130–161 kilometers per hour.
- Hegset stated that the Pentagon had not issued any orders to restrict Starshield.
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Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had called Musk and asked him to lift restrictions on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine, and on Thursday, Trump said that "the main thing is that he reversed everything" and declined to comment on whether he had called Musk.
- On October 22, Trump refused to say whether he had called SpaceX CEO Elon Musk regarding the speed restrictions on the military version of Starlink in Ukraine.
- According to Politico, as of Friday morning, October 23, the Ukrainian military was still facing speed restrictions on Starlink, even though Trump had announced that the service had resumed full operation.
- On October 24,
the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that SpaceX’s Starlink terminals and their military variants, StarShield, are once again operating at speeds exceeding 161 km/h.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also confirmed the resumption of Starlink service for Ukraine.
