Ukraine says Starshield back to normal after week-long outage, Elon Musk accuses Kiev of violating Starlink terms | Today’s news
Ukraine said on Saturday (local time) that the Starlink satellite system and its military version Starshield are back in full operation in the country, a week after speed restrictions left the country’s defenses vulnerable to Russian attacks. “The speed is now where it needs to be,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X, adding that restoration had begun overnight and was sufficient by Saturday morning, improving frontline logistics and defenses against Russia’s Shahed jet drones.
“The main thing for today is that Starlink and Starshield have resumed operation at their speeds before the restriction. The speeds are now at the level we need,” Zelenskyy said in Telegram.
According to Zelensky, the speed started to return to normal overnight. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the link remained stable at over 400km/h.
How the Starlink restrictions affected Ukraine
Starshield is the military version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service and is controlled by the US government. Ukraine used Starshield for its drones used to intercept incoming Russian strikes and to conduct attacks inside Russian territory, targeting infrastructure such as oil refineries and data centers.
Last week, without any explanation, the speeds of Starlink and Starshield satellites in Ukraine were limited to 160 km/h, leading to the disruption of Ukraine’s medium-range attack drones and frontline operations. The move, which neither the Pentagon nor SpaceX has acknowledged as having been initiated by them, coincided with US President Donald Trump announcing a partial lifting of sanctions against Russian oil and an “energy truce” between the two warring parties, claiming that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s power and energy infrastructure. This led to speculation that the Pentagon was behind the restrictions that disrupted Ukraine’s front-line operations ahead of the crucial winter.
Ukraine violated the terms of Starlink: Musk
But on Saturday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk accused the Ukrainian military of violating the company’s terms. Neither Musk nor the US government, which operates Starshield using Starlink technology, has claimed responsibility for the curbs.
“The Ukrainian military violated the Starlink terms of service and used it for drone strikes to kill people. This loophole was closed last week,” Musk said on X.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said on the Telegram app that the country is “physically unable” to use Starlink for long- and medium-range attack drone operations.
Ukraine does not rely on Starlink for long-range drone operations on Russian territory, including attacks on refineries. It works at speeds no higher than 70-90 km/h.
However, it remains vital for front-line communications, and the deployment of Starshield-enabled medium-range fast attack drones has helped Ukraine gain the upper hand in several areas of the battlefield this year.
