Ukraine's Starlink satellite internet service and its military version, Starshield, are operating at normal speeds again, the country's defence ministry said on Saturday, ending more than a week of restrictions that slowed connections and disrupted military operations.
A Starlink terminal in use by Ukrainian forces. Photo: Support Forces of Ukraine Command, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
"The Ministry of Defence's monitoring systems are recording a return to normal speed for Starlink/Starshield. We are recording a speed of over 400 kph. The connection is stable," Defence Minister Evhenii Khmara told reporters, according to Reuters. The ministry did not say whether the service had been fully restored in every respect.
A week of disruption
The restrictions, first reported on October 14 and in place since October 13, had cut connection speeds to about 160 kph or less. Ukrainian officials said the caps undermined the country's ability to intercept Russian attack drones and hampered front-line communications, where Starlink terminals guide drones and link units along the front.
As recently as Friday, five Ukrainian officials said the speed limits were still in place, contradicting President Donald Trump's statement on Thursday that SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk had restored Ukraine's Starlink access. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated the complaint on Friday, saying the limits complicated efforts to repel Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Asked about the discrepancy at the White House on Friday, Trump said he had not spoken with Musk about the restrictions but would do so if needed. "If there is a problem, I'll get it straightened out," he said.
Who ordered the slowdown?
Neither SpaceX nor the US government has acknowledged responsibility for restricting the service, and each side has publicly suggested the decision could only have been taken by the other. Reuters has reported that the order to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House; the Trump administration has acknowledged the slowdown but has not said whether it gave the order. Musk said this week that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, and that any limits are decided by the US military and ultimately the president.
A strained partnership
The limits arrived as relations between Kyiv and Washington deteriorated: Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel, waived new sanctions on Moscow, pressed Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, and said Zelenskiy should be replaced. The episode has also rattled officials in Europe, where some argue the continent must build its own military satellite communications because no short-term alternative to Starlink exists.
For Ukraine, Starlink remains the lifeblood of front-line communication. Kyiv's priority, its embassy in Washington said, is keeping the service at normal speed — because, as its spokesperson put it, the lives of Ukrainian people depend on it.
Sources: Reuters.