Restrictions on Ukraine’s military use of SpaceX’s Starlink system appear to be deliberate and not the result of any technical problems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, while denouncing a U.S. decision to waive sanctions against Russia.

Speed limitations on the Starshield internet network remain in place across Ukraine, resulting in a significant slowing down of connections, Zelenskyy said in audio messages to reporters via WhatsApp on Saturday.

After sending vehicles connected to Starshield to Europe to conduct speed checks and finding they operated normally outside Ukraine, officials in Kyiv concluded that the restrictions “are on the territory of Ukraine — so it is a planned operation,” he said.

Just hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump suspended the implementation of tariffs on Russian energy exports mandated under a new law championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and intended to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Russia carried out one of its largest missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight, targeting 15 critical power generation and transmission facilities, Zelenskyy said.

Tensions have flared between Washington and Kyiv since Trump announced a diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week that stunned Ukraine and its European allies. After Zelenskyy criticized the U.S. decision as weak, Ukrainian defense officials noted this week that their access to Starshield had slowed down.

“At the time when the Russians launched such a massive strike against our energy sector, in America, regrettably, a decision was made to completely ignore the Lindsey Graham law, which was supposed to impose truly effective pressure on Russia to end this war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.

“Russia is trying to cause a blackout in Ukraine – right before winter,” he said. “A U.S. sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor, financial rewards for Putin – all of this only encourages him to keep attacking.”

Dependence

Kyiv depends on Starshield, a militarized version of Starlink, to help its air defenses intercept jet-powered drones that Russia is firing daily at Ukraine’s capital and other cities, as well as to target artillery strikes.

Slowed transmission is hampering Ukraine’s defenses and its ability to get food and supplies to its front line, Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine’s connection to Starshield cuts out at speeds above 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), while Russian drones are traveling at around 400 kilometers per hour (249 miles per hour).

“We lose Starlink and lose the interceptor,” he said. The restrictions “prevent us from defending ourselves and protecting our people, both at the front and among the civilian population.”

In his audio messages, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was using F-16 fighter jets to shoot down about 60% of jet-powered drones and fresh ammunition was being delivered to Kyiv to assist air defenses.

Zelenskyy has accused Trump and Musk of ordering the restrictions on Starshield, which he says has led to civilian deaths in Ukraine.

Trump said Friday that he didn’t order any limitations on Ukraine’s access to the system and that he didn’t think SpaceX Chairman Elon Musk had either. Musk on Wednesday said “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately” the president.

Trump said he took the decision to invoke the waiver clause in the law he signed just last month “in the national interests of the United States,” in an executive order released late on Friday.

While the directive does formally impose the tariffs, it suspends their implementation, meaning Trump could apply them at another time if he chooses.

The legislation gave the U.S. president 30 days to impose 100% tariffs on all goods from the top five buyers of Russian crude. It would also slap sanctions on numerous Russian entities and impose 500% tariffs on all U.S. imports of Russian energy products. That one month deadline was set to expire on Oct. 18.

Those provisions conflict with his plan — announced last week — to work with Putin to release Russian diesel supplies into global markets. Trump is seeking to lower U.S. diesel prices that are hovering at record highs weeks before the Nov. 3 elections.

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who’s part of Putin’s negotiating team with U.S. officials on the war in Ukraine, applauded Trump’s decision as a “truly historic moment,” in a post on X. “Economic cooperation between Russia and the United States serves the interests of both nations,” Dmitriev wrote.

Waiving the tariffs risks fresh pushback from members of Congress, including many Republicans who were outraged by his decision on Russian diesel. A bipartisan group of senators signed a letter this week demanding that Trump rescind the deal with Putin and enforce the provisions of the Graham law.

“By waiving these sanctions, Trump is thumbing his nose at Congress’s direction that he ratchet up pressure on the Kremlin and enabling Vladimir Putin to continue his war of aggression,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement on Saturday. “There is strong bipartisan support for Ukraine and holding Russia accountable. Congress should reverse Trump’s diesel deal with Putin, surge support to Ukraine, and crack down on Russia and its enablers.”

Graham, a South Carolina Republican and longtime champion of Ukraine, wrote the bill before he died in July and its passage was seen as a way of honoring him. Graham had repeatedly called such sanctions the key to bringing Putin to the negotiating table to end his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is in its fifth year.

Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with ballistic and cruise missiles as well as 332 Shahed-type drones, including 31 jet-powered models, the General Staff in Kyiv said on its Telegram channel. Defense forces intercepted 4 Kalibr cruise missiles and 289 drones, it said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Telegram that it intercepted 610 Ukrainian drones overnight in 16 regions of the country and Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014 from Ukraine, as well as over the Black Sea.

Putin said late Friday that Russia will continue large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities and logistics hubs.

Zelenskyy has ordered fresh attacks on Russian oil refineries, ending a pause in response to Trump’s call for an energy truce.

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