Democratic senator: Zelensky says Ukraine doesn’t have full access to Starshield, intelligence sharing

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told senators Ukraine still does not have full access to the critical satellite-based Starshield network or U.S. intelligence sharing amid growing tensions with President Trump.

Zelensky provided the update to a bipartisan group of senators on a call hosted by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

“Joined Senator Tillis today to host an update from President Zelenskyy with bipartisan colleagues—hearing from him highly alarmingly that intelligence sharing & Starshield access are still partially degraded,” Blumenthal posted on the social platform X .

Blumenthal said Democratic and Republican senators are preparing to act immediately to signal their displeasure that the Trump administration hasn’t given Ukraine the same access to intelligence and internet connectivity, which is crucial to operating drones and other military vehicles, as it had at the start of October.

“President Zelenskyy is ready for a mutual ceasefire on energy facilities & resources, & civilians, if only Putin will agree. Vicious, bloodthirsty slaughter by Russia’s missiles & drones is intensifying,” Blumenthal said.

“Bipartisan, bicameral support for Ukraine was clear & unequivocal, which we’ll be expressing in upcoming action,” he added.

Reports last week that Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, was substantially restricted caused an uproar among Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Four GOP senators signed onto a bipartisan letter last week to Platte Moring, the Defense Department’s inspector general, demanding an investigation into whether senior Pentagon officials , including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, ordered or had advance knowledge of restrictions on Ukraine’s ability to use Starshield.

The senators also warned that Ukraine’s loss of access to U.S. intelligence may have put American diplomatic, security and military personnel on the ground in Ukraine in danger.

Former Ukraine Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov announced Wednesday that Ukraine’s connectivity with Starlink was being restored at speeds of up to 160 km per hour, helping it to operate military vehicles flying at that speed, suggesting that service had been restored.

But Zelensky told senators more recently that the speeds are still lagging.

The loss of full satellite network access and U.S. intelligence sharing comes as Trump appears increasingly frustrated by Ukraine’s strikes on Russian petroleum facilities.

“Zelenskyy is using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States,” Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social.

“Farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all kinds are suffering greatly from this, but Russia is, nevertheless, sending, at a low price, millions of barrels of diesel to the World. Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war,” Trump added.