, NBC News; Ukraine says it’s facing new restrictions to the Starshield network, as Trump envoys meet with Putin
“For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.
"Hours after an American delegation touched down in Moscow for peace talks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s military had experienced a renewed wave of “significant disruptions” to the Starshield satellite internet service, hampering its ability to defend itself against Russia.
“These are not random errors but systematic speed restrictions,” he said in a Telegram post. “For us, this primarily means a significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones.”...
Craig Albert, the graduate director of national defense Studies at Augusta University, said decreasing Starshield’s speed would slow down how fast Ukraine’s offensive drones travel, “which makes them pretty much target practice for faster interceptor drones by the Russians.”
It would also slow down Ukrainian interceptor drones and their missile defense systems, meaning “Russian drones can get through their defenses much quicker.”
“The Russians can target more infrastructure, and the Ukrainians just don’t have the speed to counteract,” he said, adding that “for the price, the scale, the scale, the speed, the scalability, and the efficiency,” there were no real options other than Starshield...
Ukrainian officials said Thursday that five civilians had been killed by Russian strikes on the country overnight, and 29 people injured. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had shot down 71 drones."
