Witkoff and Kushner Head to Dublin as Ukraine Reports New Starshield Limits

U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin this week. The meeting follows a trip by the two American officials to Moscow on Wednesday, where they held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff told CNN that the Moscow visit resulted in a restart of trilateral negotiations and the setting of a new meeting date.

The diplomatic push coincides with a technical issue in Kyiv. Zelensky posted on the social platform X that new restrictions on Starshield satellite communications are limiting Ukrainian air defenses. Starshield is the military version of SpaceX's Starlink service. According to Zelensky, the limits prevent interceptors from reaching the speed needed to stop Russian projectiles traveling faster than 100 miles per hour. This includes jet-powered drones.

Zelensky wrote that the slowdown allows more Russian strikes to reach their targets, resulting in more casualties. He stated that Ukraine is seeking details from the American side but has received little information so far. The current outage mirrors similar Starshield disruptions in October that drew criticism in Washington. At that time, lawmakers accused the Trump administration of aligning with Russia. The tension escalated when President Trump waived a bipartisan Russian sanctions package named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Administration officials previously blamed Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for the earlier outage. Musk initially denied responsibility but later accepted blame. He has not publicly commented on the latest restriction. Witkoff said the renewed diplomatic efforts reflect President Trump's desire for progress. He indicated that European allies would participate in the upcoming talks, calling them important partners in the process.

Kushner described the conversations in Moscow as detailed discussions on all relevant topics. He told CNN that these talks will hopefully inform the next multilateral discussions. The envoys arrived in Dublin after stops in Moscow and Abu Dhabi. During their recent trilateral talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials, the group negotiated a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war. However, those discussions did not produce a ceasefire or a comprehensive peace deal.

The upcoming meeting in Dublin aims to continue these negotiations. Witkoff noted that restarting the trilateral format was a key achievement of the Moscow trip. He emphasized that the involvement of European partners is central to the strategy. The envoys' itinerary reflects an attempt to balance engagements with both Kyiv and Moscow while managing the technical challenges facing Ukrainian defenses.