Zelensky has repeatedly asked Trump to allow the use of Starshield against Russian missile launchers

Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Donald Trump three or four times to lift the geographic restrictions on the use of the Starshield military satellite system and allow it to detect and destroy Russia's ballistic missile launchers. In a PBS NewsHour interview on Monday, the Ukrainian president said that Ukrainian cities cannot be defended with air defense missiles alone, since even the United States does not have enough of them: the launch sites would need to be hit before the Russians fire their missiles. Trump promised help, but the restrictions have remained in place.

According to Zelensky, in his conversations with the American president he tried to point out that Washington cannot supply Ukraine and the Middle East with unlimited quantities of Patriot missiles at the same time. Kyiv therefore wants to be able, alongside its defense based on a dwindling stock of interceptor missiles, to act more effectively against Russian launch sites as well, destroying them before a new attack is launched against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president stressed that his request concerns specific military targets: the system would be used on Russian territory to locate the launch sites of ballistic missiles, not for strikes on energy facilities or large-scale attacks, which he said would cause too many civilian casualties. He argued that destroying the launchers would directly protect Ukrainian civilians and make it harder for Russia to repeatedly fire ballistic missiles at the country. According to a report by the Kyiv Post, Trump received Zelensky's request favorably, but said the decision largely depends on Elon Musk's company. The Ukrainian president found this unconvincing, questioning whether Musk could really decide alone on a matter involving a system used for military purposes.

The question of responsibility also remained unclear during the service restriction in October. On October 14, SpaceX unexpectedly imposed a speed limit on the Starshield and Starlink terminals operating in Ukraine, which cut off connectivity during combat operations. Conflicting reports emerged, however, about who ordered the move: Reuters, citing two American officials and one Western official, wrote that the order came from the White House, while CBS News's sources attributed the restriction to a decision by Musk. Musk, for his part, claimed that the military system in question is owned and controlled by the US government, so any decision to restrict its use rests with the military or the president. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, denied that the Pentagon had intervened.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced on October 24 that Starlink and Starshield were again operating at full speed. That same day, Musk justified the earlier restriction by saying that Ukraine had violated the terms of service, but the restoration of speed did not mean the lifting of the geographic ban on Russian territory. In other words, Zelensky's current request concerns an issue that remains unresolved, and the argument he presented in this latest interview offers another answer to the same problem: if there are not enough air defense missiles to intercept every attack, then the launches themselves must be prevented. He is seeking Washington's approval for this, so far without success.

Ugar