New restrictions to Starshield network 'kill more Ukrainians', Zelensky says

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine's military faced new "systematic" restrictions to Starshield satellite internet, operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX service which plays a key role for frontline communications.

Ukraine first reported problems using Starshield last month following a row between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump over a US-Russia diesel deal. Zelensky said the latest issues were not "random errors".

Trump and Musk denied responsibility for the last outages, although Musk later accused Ukraine of misusing SpaceX's Starlink internet service for military purposes before all sides said full access had been restored.

Starshield is the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink.

"Our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield's operations over the territory of Ukraine for several days now," Zelensky said on social media.

"Systematic speed restrictions are being imposed," Zelensky said, adding they were "not random errors".

"This is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes," he added.

Starshield systems were not working above 100 miles per hour (161 kilometres per hour), Zelensky said.

The speed limits were proving a "significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones", which move much faster than that.

The apparent restrictions come as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow following two days of talks in Abu Dhabi searching for a deal to end the almost five-year war.

"We are trying to establish all the circumstances with the American side," Zelensky said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)