Ukraine’s defence minister, Yevhenii Khmara, said on Saturday 24 October that the country’s military is once again recording a stable connection to Starlink, the SpaceX satellite internet service, after roughly 10 days of restricted access, the BBC reported. Hours later, SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said on X that his company had itself restricted the service because Ukraine’s military had broken Starlink’s terms of use, Yahoo News reported.
The curbs worked as a movement threshold rather than a cut in bandwidth: Ukrainian officials described terminals and drones dropping the Starlink link once they travelled faster than a set speed, which degrades airborne and vehicle-mounted use while leaving fixed positions online.
Key facts
- Khmara said speeds above 400 km/h are now possible on the network, which he said indicated full capability had been restored, according to the BBC.
- While the limits were in place, Kyiv said drones lost connection at 161 km/h (100 mph) or more; adviser Serhii Beskrestnov later put the restriction at 70-90 km/h (43-56 mph), Yahoo News reported. Neither Ukrainian officials nor SpaceX publicly explained the gap between the two figures, and they were never reconciled.
- The restrictions hit both the civilian Starlink service and Starshield, its military-grade counterpart, Ukrainian officials said.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram that speeds are now where they need to be, and thanked US partners including President Donald Trump and the State Department.
- Musk denied responsibility for the simultaneous Starshield problem, saying that system is controlled by the US government.
- Ukraine’s defence ministry did not immediately comment on Musk’s claim.
Why it matters
Khmara framed the restoration in operational terms, saying the result mattered for the front, for soldiers, for drone operations, for logistics and for communications, according to AFP as reported by Moneycontrol. Around Prague noted that the episode shows how far a wartime communications system depends on a privately owned company and on the US government, and how little clarity there is about who sets the rules.
What the caps cost
The Guardian reported that the speed limits caused several Ukrainian combat missions to fail earlier this month: the military’s ability to intercept Russian attack drones suffered, some operations to strike behind enemy lines were cancelled, and Russia was able to fire ballistic missiles at Ukraine without advance ballistic missile warnings from the United States. Zelensky cited defence against jet-powered Shahed drones when describing the stakes on Saturday.
Blame remains unsettled
Musk’s account
Musk wrote on X that using a civilian commercial service for offensive drone strikes to kill people had never been allowed, and said: “That loophole was closed last week,” as quoted by Yahoo News. He also said SpaceX had done more to defend Ukraine than any private company on Earth. Yahoo News noted that Musk did not say why SpaceX made the change now, given that Ukraine’s extensive use of Starlink had been known for several years.
Zelensky’s account
Zelensky blamed both Washington and SpaceX, saying the US government sent a message to limit the speed and SpaceX implemented it technically. He said comparable limits were not applied to Starshield terminals in EU countries, which in his view pointed to a planned operation, and warned that people would die as a result.
The US government’s account
Trump first said the decision was not his and that he did not think it was Musk’s, then said Musk had put the service back, the BBC reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the president has nothing to do with decisions taken by Starlink, Starshield and Musk, calling it a private company, while Vice-President JD Vance said Musk does not want to be drawn into a war between two states without US government direction. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the order to restrict Starshield came from within the White House. Published accounts of who ordered the curbs still conflict.
How firm is the restoration?
Khmara said monitoring systems had recorded a recovery in operating speeds, but the ministry did not clarify how the 400 km/h figure was measured or confirm whether every restriction had been lifted, Moneycontrol reported. A similar gap appeared earlier in the week: Trump had said service was back at full speed, but a European official told the Associated Press it was not fully functioning. Reacting to Musk’s post, Beskrestnov said it was very strange that Musk appeared unaware of the restrictions in place in Ukraine.
Kyiv has in the meantime signed satellite deals with Finnish suppliers as the caps bit.
Background: oil strikes and diesel
The dispute surfaced last week during a wider row between Trump and Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, the BBC reported. Trump said those strikes on refineries, which Kyiv says are central to cutting Moscow’s main war revenue, had pushed global prices higher; the BBC noted that price rises this year have primarily been driven by the Iran war.
Facing midterm elections next month, Trump has waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed a deal to supply Russian diesel to the US and global market, a move European allies criticised as funding Russia’s war effort, according to Yahoo News. The Guardian reported that the speed limits coincided with Trump’s announcement of that diesel deal.
Fighting continued through the weekend. Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 616 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, while Ukrainian authorities said they had struck a missile component manufacturer, a chemical plant and an aircraft at a military airfield inside Russia, the BBC reported.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Starlink work when Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia?
No. The BBC reported that Russia is not authorised to use Starlink, so the network does not function when Ukraine sends long-range missiles or drones deep into Russian territory to hit oil refineries. Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said on Telegram that Ukraine is therefore physically unable to use commercial Starlink for deep or medium-range strike operations.
What is the difference between Starlink and Starshield?
Both run on networks of low Earth orbit satellites launched by SpaceX, but Ukraine uses them for different jobs, according to Yahoo News. Starlink, the civilian commercial service, lets military units co-ordinate, particularly in remote battlefield areas, while the more secure Starshield lets Ukrainian drone operators see targets in real time and fly interceptor drones.
How large is the satellite network Ukraine depends on?
The BBC reported that Ukraine’s military makes extensive use of a network of 10,000 low Earth orbit satellites. Moneycontrol reported that the network has become an important part of Ukraine’s military communications infrastructure since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Is the United States still sharing intelligence with Ukraine?
Zelensky said Washington had threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing if Ukraine did not stop striking Russian oil facilities, something Trump denied, according to the BBC. Moneycontrol reported that Ukraine later said it continued to receive US intelligence.
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