Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Donald Trump to block Russia and China's Starlink rival

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Russian and Chinese companies that the Ukrainian president says are involved in developing a rival satellite network to Elon Musk's Starlink.

Musk earlier this year blocked access to the Kremlin's forces after they began using SpaceX's Starlink satellite system to guide drones hitting Ukraine. This has prompted Moscow to accelerate plans to develop its own satellite network, Rassvet, with China's help, Zelenskyy said.

He told the FT China was working with Russia on the technology and that Rassvet could become operational by "the end of the year, beginning next year".

"We know that China works on satellites, works on the possibility of helping Russia with a similar Starlink," Zelenskyy said.

He warned the capability would allow the Kremlin to improve air-strike precision, as Vladimir Putin escalates his aerial campaign against Ukraine in an effort to pummel it into submission this winter.

Zelenskyy said he asked Trump "several times" for his administration to impose sanctions on the entities involved, including in New York last month when he met the US president on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

China's foreign ministry, the Kremlin and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Beijing has previously denied Zelenskyy's allegation that it supports Russia's army with weapons.

Rob Lee, a Kyiv-based military expert for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said "Rassvet won't be as effective as Starlink but Russia could begin to use it to stream [aerial drone] footage to command posts" as a better alternative to WiFi bridges.

He said the satellite network could be used for ground, sea and mid-range strike drones.

Before being blocked, Russian forces used Starlink on their Molniya and Italmas BM-35 aerial drones, which they used to strike high-value targets in Ukraine, Lee said.

Russian brigades still use Starlink inside occupied regions of Ukraine to stream the footage from Mavics -- small drones often used for reconnaissance -- to command posts, but they lack enough whitelisted terminals to place them on drones, Lee said.

Rassvet could also give a significant boost to Russia's sabotage campaign against Ukraine's European allies, according to Lee.

"Drones could be piloted from Moscow using Rassvet in other countries," he said. The Kremlin's forces could mirror Ukraine's own Spiderweb operation that used dozens of small first-person view attack drones against Russian air bases.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday said Europe was preparing for "severe" Russian hybrid attacks, as Putin threatened that his conflict with the west could reach a "fatal point of no return".

Zelenskyy has also lobbied Trump to allow his forces to launch Starlink-equipped drones up to 200km inside Russia against ballistic missile launchers and drone launch sites. Ukraine's military is currently restricted to using the system within the country's borders.

Zelenskyy said Trump told him Musk needed to make the call, while Ukraine's former defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has said Musk had already agreed and that it was up to the US president to decide.

"President Trump told me that he supports it," Zelenskyy said on Thursday, and that the US leader added: "Ask Elon."

SpaceX and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump in recent weeks has pressed Zelenskyy to halt drone strikes on Russian refineries, which the US president has blamed for driving up American diesel prices, even though the Iran war has been a more significant factor in the increase.

Still, Zelenskyy insisted Starlink-guided drone attacks in Russia could lead to "real de-escalation" and even peace because they would force Putin back to the negotiating table. If the Trump administration or Musk developed concerns, he noted, the system could be easily "switched off".