Zelenskyy: Starlink and Starshield Fully Restored in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed in a video address on the morning of 24 October that restrictions on the Starlink and Starshield satellite communication systems have been lifted. Ukraine's armed forces use these services for frontline communications, logistics and drone operations, so the slowdown directly affected military activity. Zelenskyy thanked everyone who helped restore the connection.

"Starlink and Starshield are back to operating at the speeds they were capable of before these restrictions were imposed. Now we have the speed we need," he said.

Speeds recovered overnight

According to the president, speeds began to recover during the night and by morning had reached the level required for military use. He stressed that this matters for frontline logistics and for protecting Ukraine against jet-powered Shahed drones.

Earlier, Ukraine's defence forces and experts from the Ministry of Defence recorded Starlink and Starshield speeds above 161 km/h. The ministry later officially confirmed that it was recording speeds above 400 km/h and that the connection was stable. The units are given as they appear in the source.

What happened before

A few days ago, Zelenskyy said Starlink and Starshield equipment had stopped working at speeds of 130–161 km/h in various sectors of the line of contact. This disrupted logistics and limited Ukraine's use of drones.

On 16 October, US President Donald Trump claimed the White House had not been involved in restricting Ukraine's use of the system. Meanwhile, the British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Elon Musk, CEO of the space company SpaceX, had approached Trump with an idea to restrict the bandwidth of the Starlink and Starshield satellite networks used by the Ukrainian military.