Zelensky Asked Trump to Expand Ukraine's Starlink Access for Strikes on Russia

During his visit to the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to persuade Donald Trump to expand the Ukrainian military's access to the Starlink satellite network so it could be used for strikes deep inside Russian territory, according to The Atlantic.

According to the source, Kyiv had formally requested Washington supply 300 missiles for Patriot air defense systems. Trump, however, offered Ukraine a license to produce such missiles domestically instead — a move that experts estimate would take several years to reach meaningful production volumes.

Ukrainian officials argued that expanding Starlink capabilities would be a faster and cheaper solution, particularly ahead of winter, when Moscow traditionally intensifies strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Currently, SpaceX only permits the Ukrainian military to use Starlink within Ukraine's territory, including Russian-occupied regions such as Crimea. Because of this restriction, Ukraine's long-range drones must rely on less precise AI-based navigation systems when striking deeper into Russian territory.

The Atlantic reports that Trump promised to consider the request but made no concrete commitments.

Zelensky also tried to arrange a personal meeting with Elon Musk during his U.S. visit, but the billionaire declined, according to the outlet. As a result, Ukraine is now considering the use of SpaceX's military-grade Starshield satellite network, which is more expensive and harder to integrate into existing command systems.

At the same time, Kyiv is pursuing technological independence: Ukrainian company Stetman plans to begin building its own satellite constellation starting in 2027, which could eventually reduce the state's and military's dependence on foreign communications systems, including Starlink.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz