Getty ImagesUkraine now has a “stable connection” to Starlink, its defence minister has said, after its military suffered days of restricted connectivity on the satellite internet network.
Kyiv relies on the Starlink and its military-grade counterpart Starshield for piloting drones and operations within Ukraine, but last week accused US President Donald Trump of telling owner Elon Musk to place limits on it.
This meant drones would lose connection when travelling at 161km/h (100mph) or more, it said. Trump denied doing so before saying Musk had “put it back”.
Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara said that speeds of more than 400km/h were now possible on the network, indicating that full capability had been restored.
Ukraine’s military uses the network of 10,000 low Earth orbit satellites extensively for military operations, particularly in remote areas on the battlefield.
Ukraine uses both the civilian service Starlink and the more secure Starshield, which Musk said was controlled by the US military when he suggested the Pentagon could be behind the recent issues.
Russia is not authorised to use Starlink, so when Ukraine sends long-range missiles or drones deep into Russia to hit oil refineries, the network does not work.
The debacle over Starlink began last week, and emerged during a broader diplomatic row between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.
Faced with midterm elections next month, Trump has waived some sanctions on Russia and agreed a deal to import Russian diesel for the US market – a move criticised by Ukraine and its European allies.
Trump said the strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Kyiv says are crucial to stemming the main revenue source for Moscow’s war effort, have pushed global prices higher.
While the attacks have had an impact on global fuel prices, rises seen this year have primarily been due to the Iran war.
Zelensky said that, as well as seemingly limiting Starlink capability in Ukraine, the US had also threatened to withdraw intelligence sharing if the strikes did not stop, something Trump also denied.
Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continues.
Russia’s ministry of defence wrote on Telegram on Saturday that their air defences shot down 616 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones, striking a number of regions across the country, including Russian-annexed Crimea.
Sergey Aksyonov, the region’s Moscow-backed governor, said restrictions on electricity and water had been put in place because of power cuts caused by the drone strike.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said they struck a missile component manufacturer, a chemical plant and an aircraft at a military airfield inside Russia in the past 24 hours.
They also said that Russia carried out 88 air strikes using 309 glide bombs and 10,270 kamikaze drones on Friday.
