Starlink Fully Restored in Ukraine After Week of Restrictions

Ukraine said on Saturday that the Starlink satellite communications system, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, and its military version Starshield are fully operational again. They had been restricted for more than a week, which disrupted Ukrainian military operations in the war against Russia and heightened tensions with the United States.

The problems began after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to buy Russian diesel while urging Kyiv to stop striking Russian oil refineries. Ukrainian officials said the systems had been capped at 160 kilometers per hour. They said this limited the military's ability to intercept Russian attack drones and forced some operations to be cancelled.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram that Starlink and Starshield had returned to their pre-restriction speeds, which he said meet Ukraine's needs. He added that speeds began recovering overnight. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the connection remained stable at over 400 kph.

Role at the front

Ukraine does not depend on these systems for long-range drone operations on Russian territory, including attacks on refineries. Starlink nevertheless remains vital for communications along the front line. This year, the use of medium-range attack drones enabled by Starshield has helped Ukraine gain the upper hand in several areas of the battlefield.

Responsibility unclear

The restrictions caused outrage in Ukraine, partly because they coincided with disruptions to allied warnings about incoming Russian missile attacks. Kyiv later said it was still receiving U.S. intelligence.

Neither Musk nor the U.S. government has acknowledged responsibility for restricting Starlink or Starshield in Ukraine, and each has publicly said that only the other could have made such a decision. Reuters has reported that the order to throttle Starshield came from inside the White House. Sources said previous U.S. administrations had asked SpaceX several times to switch Starlink on or off in various countries.

On Friday, Trump contradicted his earlier statement that the services had been fully restored, saying that if problems persisted he would "get it straightened out."