Ukrainian military operations were disrupted again this week along the front lines because of restrictions on Starshield, the satellite internet system developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX and controlled by the U.S. government, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday. Mr. Zelensky told reporters that speed limits of about 100 miles per hour were being enforced for Ukrainian devices connected to the system, the second time in recent weeks that Ukraine's Starshield connectivity had been throttled.

The earlier restrictions caused Ukrainian drones to lose their connection to the system if they flew above certain speeds. Mr. Zelensky said the latest limits took effect on Monday and are being enforced over Russian-occupied territories rather than all of Ukraine, which hurts Ukraine's ability to strike Russian troops with drones in those areas. He called imposing restrictions there "very dangerous, because it already has political implications," adding, "If you impose restrictions there, you are already partially recognizing the temporarily occupied territories as not ours."S1

Mr. Zelensky also said in his nightly speech that the Starshield limits hurt Ukraine's ability to use newly developed interceptors against Russia's jet-powered drones. It is likely, however, that the limits would not affect interceptors in Kyiv, the capital, which is being battered by such drones but is far from the front lines.S1

Limits on Starshield were first imposed across all of Ukraine for about 10 days in October, as President Trump and his administration were pressuring Kyiv to stop attacking Russian oil refineries in an effort to lower diesel prices before the U.S. midterm elections. Ukrainian officials at the time feared the limits were meant to force Kyiv to capitulate to Moscow, and the changes that caused drones to fall from the skies on the front line still have not been fully explained.S1

Starshield is the military version of SpaceX's Starlink, which the Ukrainian military also uses. Ukraine relies on Starlink for communication and on Starshield for certain air defense tasks and for guiding drones in Russian-occupied territory. SpaceX had earlier told Axios that Ukraine's claim about throttled connectivity was false, and Mr. Musk and SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment on Friday evening. Last month, SpaceX told Congress that no changes had been made to Starshield because it was under U.S. government control, but that Starlink had been changed because Ukraine had violated its terms of service by using it for "offensive military aviation missions."S1S2