Ukraine 'can't catch up' to Russian drones amid Starlink slowdown

US envoy Jared Kushner says. Russia and Ukraine have agreed. to include European countries. in the next round of U.S. brokered peace talks. aimed at ending the war. Kushner said. the talks will cover land. disputes and Europe's security. They're also working. towards a major prisoner swap. But while diplomatic efforts continue, the war is far from over. Ukrainian officials. warn of repeated star disruptions. threatening a critical communications. link for Ukraine's military. Ukraine says it must maintain. critical technological partnerships.

and secure international investment. to keep its military. and civilian infrastructure connected. The only bad news is that we are again. seeing problems with Storm Shield, and we have detected. speed restrictions on stuff. shelled on our Ukrainian territory again. This directly affects our ability. to intercept Russian. jet powered shield drones. These drones. come from those areas. and because of the speed restrictions,

we simply cannot catch up with them. in time. Well, Becky Anderson, the host of this program, sat down. with former Ukrainian. Defense Minister. Mykhailo Fedorov. to discuss the war. as well as Ukraine's relationship. with the U.S. and Elon Musk. Becky started the interview. by asking him about the possibility. of holding elections in Ukraine, an issue President. Donald Trump has repeatedly raised. It's not easy to find five years. with Russia. Everything is tough during the war,

but we are fighting for democracy. and it's important. to have this democracy. But, politicians, the parliament. that the office of the president, our government, they have to do our homework. as a nation and, not Putin, not Tom, not, nobody in the world. should speak. about the election in Ukraine. It's only our Ukrainian homework. There is, one character in the.

United States. who some people call. a kind of crazy character. It depends what you think of him. You know him very well. It's Elon Musk. When Ukrainian operations can be affected. by decisions over privately, controlled satellite technology. Isn't that. a dangerous strategic dependance, or am I getting that all wrong? What what's. what is the story of Starlink? Musk and the recent sort of controversy. about whether or not. the US. or he pulled that satellite operation?

Yeah. To be honest, I don't know who was responsible for it. If was his case, did you ask him? Because, you know, I spoke with, with, with Zeeland and the, you know, our long history of, our cooperation, since 2022, I think, it's more important, to explain that this is, Russian cognitive, operation. to convince our partners to change.

their actions. And it's important. for us to continue to speak with Elon, with all the technological guy. across the world, and to share our values, our vision. And, to convince them to support Ukraine. But it's a good sign for EU. for different, defense, tech companies. across the world. to invest in this business in satellites, because Elon Musk created.

one of the best, company in the world. He changed this, this world. And the. Italians helped save thousands of, Ukrainian kilometers. because we actively use starlings. for, our, medicine sphere, for our soldiers, for schools, for terrorism. And even if the first weeks. after the full scale. invasion, Stalin supported, our army. to have this communication and, to seize the initiative.

in the key region, it was very important. And, I think, of course, and you political season in the, in. the U.S will change, many things. because, of course, America is a very smart nation. And, Americans, they will change their policies. They will do their homework. How to, change the future when some people, not from the government is,

have all the. opportunities to. make some political decisions. It's it will be their homework, but we need to continue. to speak with these guys. and to find some language. how to convince them to support Ukraine, because estimates made that, first, the future of democracy. and that whole Western war. depends on the war in Ukraine.

Seeing as Nick Paton. Walsh is joining us now from London. And, Nick, just before we discuss. Federer's comments, then we. we talk about Star Shield. Can you first. just give us an update on the peace. talk negotiations. and all this. discussion about possible. European participation, where that leaves things. I mean, we've had an extraordinary. 3 to 4 days now Hallmarked really by. what Ukraine says were limits on its star.

shield capabilities, its ability. ultimately to use air defense. effectively against Russian drones. But that began. at the beginning of these. talks in Abu Dhabi, where the Europeans. were present on the sidelines. Then the US, Russia and Ukraine had talks. that ultimately. it seemed to produce little apart. from and yet to be detailed, large prisoner swap. And then, Jared Kushner and Steve. Work of President Trump's. two key envoys went to the Kremlin. to finalize that prisoner deal.

And in the words of Jared Kushner, I hope that Vladimir Putin. would, quote, give his blessing. to the idea of these talks. no longer being trilateral, becoming multilateral. The meeting occurs in the Kremlin. It's televised on tape. And during that, President. Putin doesn't. make much of mention of the details. of this prisoner exchange. And, Jared Kushner and Steve Wyckoff. emerge to say that they understand. these talks will now involve. the Europeans. Now, the Russians, for their part, do not confirm that.

and say that they are wanting to. look at what the Europeans are proposing. and their behavior, and will. then make a decision. as to whether they agree. to their involvement. There's a lot of nuance here, because during the Abu. Dhabi talks, the Europeans, whether they were on the sidelines, but they weren't. part of a. technically expanded multilateral format. And part of the US goal. here has been to suggest. the talks will create. a sort of broader European. Russia security infrastructure. and what Trump has called. a big, beautiful deal. Russia's long wanted.

that and wanted to turn peace. talks into Ukraine, into a broader conversation. about NATO and its role. and potentially limits indeed on it. So a lot of this is ultimately Russia. kind of getting its way to some degree. But now the big ask of the Kremlin, can Europe. formally become part of these talks? Well, Kushner and Wyckoff emerge saying, yes, that's been agreed to. Russia has yet to formally confirm that. And I've got to tell it, you know, pretty much one and one in diplomacy. here and negotiation. is if you emerge saying.

something's going to happen, you better make sure the people. who you agreeing with say the same thing. And that so far hasn't happened. Christina. And look, Nick, we were just listening. to former defense Secretary. Michael federal. They're speaking to Becky. about Ukraine's continued. reliance, really on the US. for Starlink and connectivity. as we see these repeated star. shield outages. Volodymyr Zelensky. was speaking about that today. What impact is this. having on Ukraine's ability. to counter Russian drone attacks and. and what is being done?

Do we know what is being. done to address the problem? Yeah. Let me first of all, what's been done to address. the problem will ultimately Ukraine, I'm sure privately is searching. frantically for. technological alternatives. Publicly, President Zelenskyy. is asking the Americans for details. and during his meeting. with the Europeans yesterday. said, look, if people are making decisions. about where these elements of technology. can function, i.e. where does Ukraine begin. and where does Russia end, then that tells them where we're going. Let me explain to you. how this really works,

because it's kind of important. to understand. this is about a limitation on the speed. at which drones. that are flying to intercept. Russian drones. can fly now. by 100 miles an hour. is where the signal seems. to cut out under these restrictions. And President Zelensky has said. that makes it impossible. for some of the newer technology. that Ukraine has had to urgently fashion. to tackle Russia's new, faster jet powered drones. Well, they have to fly over. a hundred miles an hour, otherwise they can't keep up. with these drones. Zelensky says that.

this can no longer occur. in occupied parts of Ukraine. And the issue here, of course, is. they want to intercept. those drones over. occupied areas. rather than Ukraine proper. That's the key issue here. And that's what Ukraine is urgently. trying to get fixed. And it's happened before. And the last time. the US couldn't really answer. who was behind it. Christina. That's good analysis. Nick Paton Walsh there for us in London. Thank you very much.