Ukraine’s soldiers have their satellite link back. Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara said on Saturday that the Starlink connection was stable again and now worked for equipment moving at more than 400km/h, a sign that the caps imposed over the past week had been lifted. President Volodymyr Zelensky added on Telegram that both Starlink and its military counterpart Starshield had returned to the speeds Ukraine had before the restrictions, with the fix starting overnight.
The outage mattered because so much of Ukraine’s war runs through Elon Musk’s network of low-orbit satellites. Drone pilots, supply convoys and frontline units in remote areas rely on it. During the slowdown, drones reportedly dropped their link whenever they passed roughly 160km/h. Khmara called the restored service important “above all” for the front, while Zelensky singled out its role against Iranian-designed Shahed drones and thanked US lawmakers, the State Department and the president.
Just who flipped the switch is still disputed. Kyiv had accused Donald Trump of asking Musk to limit the service; Trump denied it and later said Musk had “put it back”. Musk, for his part, suggested the Pentagon might be responsible, since Starshield is under US military control.
The row is part of a wider strain between the two governments. Trump has complained that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries push up fuel prices, and with midterms approaching he has eased some sanctions on Moscow. According to Zelensky, US officials even hinted that intelligence could be cut off; Trump denies that as well. The air war itself has not paused: Russia said it downed 616 Ukrainian drones overnight, and Crimea’s Moscow-installed governor announced power and water restrictions after a strike.
